


Refuge

by heartsdesire456



Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, M/M, Past Mpreg, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-07
Updated: 2012-12-07
Packaged: 2017-11-20 12:47:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When a bloodied, battered Loki appears out of nowhere at Stark Tower while Thor is visiting, everyone's initial reaction was that of shock. When they discovered that the bundle in his arms was an infant, however, that shock was multiplied. With a mortal Loki and his human child on the run for their lives, everybody has to learn to put aside their prejudices and decide whether or not to protect Thor's brother and his niece.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(In which Chelsea stitches together her own fictional version of Loki mythology, there is implied non-con in the form of Loki becoming pregnant after sex with someone under mind control during his incursion on earth, and Loki's life has basically been nothing but pain.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Refuge

**Author's Note:**

> This story started out as a first break in a terrible writers block and it's taken me AGES to write something so simple. It isn't that great, really. It's pretty dull compared to some of my more feeling/action packed fics, but this one definitely plays on the 'poor Loki' idea and it fictionalizes (well, more than it already was) the mythology behind Loki and his various children. Mostly Gen.
> 
> Also, there is a healthy dose of Science Boyfriends hanging around the background, that's fun.

Since the Chitauri invasion, quite a lot had been accomplished. Stark Tower had been fully remodeled with apartments for each member of the group, Tony had convinced Bruce to stick around and eventually got him to agree to actually _stay_ , and Thor had come down to check in with them twice in the three months since the invasion. 

It was during one of these visits that the team received the shock of their lives.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony poured Natasha a drink, smiling as he walked back to the living area where Bruce, Natasha, Steve, and Thor were all settled. “Here, the good stuff for the Russian,” he said and Natasha actually gave what might’ve passed for a smile as she took her glass. “Sure you don’t want one, big guy?” he asked Bruce, who rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah, me and vodka go really well together,” he said flatly, earning a smirk from Tony. “Only you would have fun if I let down my guard,” he said and Tony smirked.

“Why Bruce! Are you saying I might could talk you out of the lab for a little personal experimentation-“

Bruce cut him off with a half-glare. “I did _not_ mean I’d fall for your charms all of a sudden,” he said and Steve chuckled.

“How about we leave the drinking out either way, Bruce?” he suggested and Bruce gave him an affronted look.

“Why do you all think I’m like Tony’s blondes?” he asked and Natasha smirked.

“Because you spend a lot of time in that lab of his to not get more done,” she said with a wink. “Somebody’s testing the goods- and I don’t mean Stark Tech,” she accused and Bruce huffed, cheeks showing spots of pink.

Tony sighed dramatically. “It’s true, it’s true. The fact of it is, we are dirty, dirty lovers in the night,” he said and Bruce made a face.

“We’re really, really not,” he said, then shot Tony an apologetic look. “Not doubting your ‘goods’-“ he cringed and shook his head. “Okay no, that sounds just wrong, but whatever the case,” he continued. “I’m just saying, no offense, Tony, but there isn’t that much ‘testing’ in my future, sorry,” he said, shrugging.

Tony pouted dramatically. “C’mon, I’ll buy you an island?” he offered and Bruce shot him a flat look. Tony chuckled. “What? I usually just buy somebody a drink and they want in my pants, it was worth a shot-“

The group’s laughter was cut off as a sudden, unexpected strike of what appeared to be lightening hit the balcony towards the landing pad, halfway out the ramp, with a deafening crack when the sky was otherwise completely clear. “WHAT THE HELL?!” Steve cried, looking horrified.

Bruce frowned. “Even allowing for dry lightning, that’s unusual,” he said, shooting Tony a worried look.

Tony jumped up and rushed to the window, only to freeze. “Thor… uh buddy… lighting’s your thing, right?” he asked and Thor stood, looking alarmed as something settled across his features.

“That was no lightning,” he said gravely, rushing to Tony’s side, only to let out a startled cry. “Loki?!”

Immediately everyone was on their feet, rushing to the window, Natasha drawing a gun none of them had seen on her person, as Thor pushed open the door and rushed out. “Thor, it might be a trap!” Natasha cried, only to have Thor ignore her entirely. 

Tony followed Thor out onto the balcony, hand on his bracelet just in case as he approached the ramp. “Thor?” he called as Thor slid to a stop and fell to his knees beside the dark, huddled form on the ramp. 

Bruce shuffled nervously, standing in the doorway. “Tony?” he called out, watching Tony ease down the ramp. “Tony, be careful!”

Tony stopped, however, when he got a few feet away. The sight that met him was one that even he was shocked to see: Loki, their ‘great enemy’, was on his knees, dressed in a plain gray shirt and dark pants of some sort, all of it soaked in blood in places. His feet were bare and bloody, what was visible of his arms through his torn shirt were bloodied, and there were smears around him where he had landed and touched the ground. All in all, Tony couldn’t imagine what could injure a demigod so greatly.

What was most startling, however, was the sound of squalling coming from the bundle Loki was shielding with his body, clutching at the bundle between himself and the ground like he was trying to wrap himself around it. Tony could hear Loki babbling over the screaming of what could only be a child in his arms, but couldn’t tell what he said. He did, however, see the moment Thor froze, sat back on his knees, and stared at his brother with a wide-eyed, horrified look.

“Brother, no,” he spoke in a hoarse voice. He looked up at Tony, who was shocked to see what could only be sorrow etched into every line of Thor’s face. “I believe I need your help, Tony. And we will need the help of Doctor Banner,” he said with a deeply solemn tone. 

Tony’s eyes slid back to Loki, only to see he was looking at him with more fear in his eyes than Tony could remember ever seeing in the eyes of any person before. There were tears falling from his eyes, there was blood streaking his face, and the veins of his arms bulged from the grip he had on the bundle of cloth in his arms. He wanted nothing more than to remind Thor that his brother had nearly killed an entire city of people, but even with his bitterness and hatred for Loki, he couldn’t help but fear more whatever it was that had made the villainous demigod so afraid. He looked at Thor and nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Tony watched as Thor mumbled something to Loki, who looked skeptical. “Loki,” Thor spoke solemnly. “No matter what you have done, you are my brother. I will not let them harm you,” he swore and Loki nodded weakly, allowing Thor to pull him to his feet, only to have him stumble slightly before Thor caught him around the middle. “Tony?”

Tony remembered that Thor needed him and he carefully went closer. He eyed Loki with distrust, only to be surprised when Loki’s eyes widened with alarm and he jerked back, falling against his brother’s chest. “No, stay back!” he barked, his voice strangled with fear.

“It is alright, brother!” Thor shushed. “What if I-“ He reached towards whatever was in Loki’s arms, only to have Loki scream for him to stop. “Okay! I’m sorry brother, I am sorry!” Thor rushed. “If we are to get you inside, however, you need to let Tony help us!”

Tony slowly approached them. Loki eyed him with fear but allowed Tony to put an arm around his waist and take his elbow, careful not to touch what sounded for all the world to be a baby even if it was an absurd thought, and helped Thor support Loki in the heavy winds that whipped around the building. When they got to the door, Tony looked up. “Bruce?” he asked and Bruce gave Loki a dark look, only to start when Loki hissed in fear and drew back into Thor’s side, shielding the bundle of cloth in his arms.

“Sorry, yeah,” he said, pulling out his glasses. “Get him Tony’s lab, it’s closest.” He turned to lead the way, Loki supported by Tony and Thor, and Natasha and Steve following them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When they got Loki to the lab, Natasha was the first to speak. “What’s in the blanket, Loki,” she said, her hand on her gun at her side.

Loki shot her a horrified look, ducking behind Thor. “NO!” he cried and Thor turned to catch him. “Thor, no!” he cried, tears welling in his eyes again.

“It’s alright, brother!” he urged, turning to glare at Natasha, who just glared back. “None of you are to harm my brother or his child. Friends or not, he is my family,” he swore, eyes daring them to object.

Bruce started. “ _Child_?!” he asked, and Thor nodded. Everybody shared looks before looking at Loki, who was gently rocking the bundle. “You… you have a child?” he asked, looking skeptical and confused. 

Loki laughed bitterly. “I’m well aware I am your enemy, but that doesn’t meant I cannot be a parent,” he spat. He swayed slightly and Thor let out a gasp as he caught him.

“Brother, you’ve bled too much, what happened?!” he asked, carefully lifting his brother onto the table Bruce had cleared.

Loki let out a weak sound, leaning his head against Thor’s arm beside him. “The Allfather stripped me of my power before I was locked away. I am mortal as you once were,” he said and Thor gave him a shocked look.

“He made you mortal and let them do this?!” he asked and Loki sneered tiredly.

“The old fool thinks me his son _now_ ,” he scoffed. He sighed, eyes showing pain as he shuddered. “He did not know what they did. Mother was able to restore some of my power when she visited and discovered I was with child.” He swallowed visibly, looking down into the pile of ratty blankets. “She did not want me to die,” he whispered.

Thor smiled sadly, reaching out to touch his brother’s hair. “I knew you would never deny our mother,” he whispered and Loki looked away. 

“Hold on,” Steve interrupted, looking shocked and confused. “I know I missed a lot…” He trailed off giving Bruce a meaningful look and Tony snorted.

“No, men don’t have babies now, grandpa,” he said and Bruce looked at Loki, eyes already searching over his wounds from a distance.

“You said she gave you some of your power back… I’m guessing that allowed you to… that?” he asked, nodding at the blankets.

Loki clutched them closer and nodded. “A mortal body like the one I have now would die where as I could give birth to a child as I was.” He flinched. “But when the guards heard her when my powers were spent after she was born, I was unable to keep the sound from my cell blocked after she came, they seized me,” he said, staring down away from their eyes. “They- they took her from me,” he choked out and Thor grew tense, his hand clenching into a fist at his side. “Mother was coming to visit and came upon them beating me as I fought to get to her,” he whispered, his voice empty of everything except fear as he relived the memories. “One was taking her away and the others were beating me. I tried-“ He choked out a sob, looking up at Thor. “I tried to escape,” he admitted. “I know I swore I would not, brother, I am so sorry but they had her-“

“Hush brother,” Thor said putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Mother has not the power to send you here, though,” he whispered and Loki shook his head.

“She- her anger made her stronger. They panicked when they saw their Queen had arrived and Mother took her, cast them all into a wall, and then put her in my arms. Odin would have been enraged she helped me,” he snarled angrily. “He would have stopped Mother and let them take her away from me so she did all she could and sent me to you.” He looked up. “She- she hoped you would- wouldn’t return me,” he whispered, looking frightened.

Thor’s jaw clenched. “Odin is a heartless man for what he has done before,” he spat. “I would no sooner hand you over to him again than Mother.”

Natasha cleared her throat. “Not to intrude, but you kind of did hand him over to Odin about three months ago,” she pointed out and Thor glared at her.

“To face Asgardian justice for his crimes! Odin Allfather is a just king and Loki had to pay but I would not trust _anyone_ besides our Mother and my warriors with Loki’s child-“

Bruce gave a small snort. “Yeah, because insanity on Loki’s level isn’t bad enough for a child already-“

“I AM A GOOD PARENT!” Loki snarled, jolting in a way that suggested that, had his arms been empty, human and injured or not, he would have lunged for Bruce. “YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY CHILDREN-“

Tony gave a startled jerk. “ _Children-_ ”

Loki let out a wretched sob. “Yes, you babbling moron,” he spat half enraged and half crying as tears streaked his face. “You think me nothing more than the monster I was born-“ Thor sighed, giving Loki a sad look. “You think me a mindless murderer who only knows hatred- I do not deny my crimes against Midgard- but you forget behind every monster is a _man_.” He looked at Tony. “You think no one thinks you a monster, warmonger?” he challenged. “What of you,” he said, eyes turning to Bruce. “I am not the only one in this room who has killed, who has maimed,” he said, looking at Steve and Natasha. “Just as you humans are not the only ones who have loved,” he choked out, shaking as tears rolled down his cheeks, mingling with the blood and dirt from his beating. He looked down at his arms, smiling a broken smile that startled all but Thor. “You humans are not the only one who have _lost_ ,” he whispered, lip quivering as he lifted his face. “You think me a monster, but I have been a husband. I have been a lover. I have been a father and mother. I have been made to watch my children be taken from me, be cast out as ‘monsters’.” He sniffled. “I have seen my _children_ murdered,” he whimpered, eyes searching those around him. “Think what you must of me, but do not blame me for escaping my punishment for my crimes to save her,” he pleaded, turning his wide, broken blue eyes to Thor. “Please, brother,” he breathed and Thor shot challenging glares around the table.

“None of you will harm him,” he proclaimed, not allowing for any argument. He looked at Loki. “Fear not, brother. No harm will come of you or your child,” he said and Loki gave him a wet smile.

“After all I have done to you… after every betrayal, brother?” he asked and Thor smiled tightly.

Thor clutched Loki’s shoulder and shook him slightly. “I refuse to accept that the evil that possessed you was of your own heart, brother. True parentage or not, I will always love you as my dear little brother, Loki.” He looked at the blankets. “And I will not see you lose another child,” he said darkly.

Loki smiled. “Thank you.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “Right, so… all of this startlingly overwhelming information aside,” he started, smiling uneasily. “If you’re really mortal, I kind of need to look you over. You could be dying on us here and like or not, Thor kind of isn’t giving us an option to just let you bleed to death,” he said and Loki glared at him.

Thor held out his hands. “Loki, I will guard her with my life,” he promised and Loki stared at his outstretched arms reluctantly before sighing and laying the bundle of blankets on the table.

“She probably does not need to be kept in bloody rags,” he whispered and Thor turned and yanked, ripping his cloak free of his armor without a thought. 

“Here,” he said, holding the deep red cloth out in front of him. “I will take her.”

Loki unwound the ragged blanket and everybody held their breath, unsure of what to expect. Loki was, after all, not a true Asgardian. However, when the last cloth was pulled aside, they were all startled more by what they saw than they would have been had it been an ugly beast.

The naked child revealed seemed to be a normal, healthy looking infant. She began crying as he sudden cold air hit her skin, waving her little arms as she screamed. She did not look like a newborn child as they expected, but rather an infant closer to being a toddler. Her head was covered in sandy waves and her eyes were a bright blue, nothing unusual as they had expected. Loki quickly transferred her to Thor’s cape and wrapped her up, smiling when he picked her up. “Shhhh, all is well, my darling,” he whispered, the love in his eyes more frightening than his evil hatred ever had been to the others. “Be kind for your uncle,” he whispered, handing her reluctantly to Thor, who just smiled a large, bright smile as he pulled the child into his arms.

She sat up in his arms, looking around as she cried, reaching back for her mother. “Hush child,” Thor said in a strangely warm voice. “Come! We shall go on a quest for sustenance for you!” he announced, giving everyone pointed glares then nodding at Loki. “Do not harm my brother,” he warned before smiling once more at the child in his arms, leaving the room with a bounce in his step as he attempted to calm her.

Natasha turned to leave but Loki hissed. “You stay where I can see you, murderess,” he spat and she stopped, turning to glare at him. “What? You have killed children before,” he accused and Natasha flinched slightly.

Steve walked over to Natasha. “I’ll go with her,” he said to Loki, giving him an uneasy look. “Look, fella, I may not like you but I won’t let anybody hurt a kid,” he said and Loki narrowed his eyes but nodded.

“Your heart is very pure, for a human,” he said, watching them leave. He turned back to Bruce and Tony. “If you kill me, Thor will be angry,” he warned and Tony chuckled.

“No worries, Mr. Mom, I’m more interested in finding out how the hell a male anything has a baby to kill you just yet,” he said, nodding at Bruce. “Just let him patch you up, okay?”

Loki sighed but nodded, lying back as the adrenaline began to leave him, allowing the pain to return. “Believe you me, with a semi-mortal body that does not possess the gender of human, mortal childbearing, it was ridiculously difficult,” he said and Tony made a horrified face.

“Ew, never mind, I’m good not knowing, thanks,” he said, earning a chuckle from Bruce, who went about cutting Loki’s shirt off him to get a look at his wounds.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was astounded how battered Loki was. He wasn’t in any danger of dying but he had some cracked ribs and bruises and cuts all over, yet he had still been able to cling to the baby for so long without fainting from the pain it must have caused him. Because of his injuries, Bruce was willing to put apart his distrust and help Tony support Loki to take him to his daughter, as he refused to go rest somewhere without her.

When they got him to the living area, Loki let out a sigh of relief and relaxed some between them when he saw Thor sitting with the child on his lap, feeding her something in a bowl with a spoon. “What is she eating?” Loki asked and Thor looked up with a smile.

“Midgardians have these lovely fruits called bananas that are quite soft, so I thought it best give her that,” he said, offering her back to Loki as soon as Tony helped him sit beside his brother, whining softly as he settled.

Bruce cringed. “He’s pretty banged up,” he said to Thor as Thor passed the baby to Loki, helping him support her. “Few cracked ribs. Holding her so tight when he landed wasn’t helping.”

Thor nodded. “What species is she, brother?” he asked curiously, catching the attention of Steve, who was sitting with Natasha, whispering in the couch across from Thor and the baby. 

“Did you just say _species_?” he asked and Tony gave the baby a suspicious look.

Loki paled some- as impossible as it should have been with his white skin- and looked down. “She is human,” he whispered.

Thor gave him a stern glare. “Brother-“

Loki gave him a wide-eyed look. “I was tortured, threatened, and brainwashed, you know this now!” he defended, biting his lip.

Tony chuckled uneasily. “So… the glow stick of destiny?” he asked and Loki nodded weakly.

Bruce shot him an amused look. “You used your possession powers to make somebody get you pregnant?” he asked and Loki flushed.

“Not on purpose, I was just very confused with the things I had had put into my mind. I slipped up and wished for a simpler time and… well, my body translated that to the last time I was pregnant… and it just happened,” he said, ducking his eyes.

Thor put a hand on his shoulder, looking up at the others with hopeful eyes. “Whatever my brother’s crimes, please understand he really was brainwashed. The villainous acts you have beheld from him are not Loki. Those actions were _not_ my brother,” he defended.

Loki sighed. “It was still me. I was driven by anger,” he admitted and Thor shook his head.

“Brother, what is her name?” he asked to cut off his brother’s descent into dark thoughts.

Loki smiled and stroked a hand over the sandy waves covering the baby’s head as he fed her a bit more banana. “Freyja.” Thor nodded.

“Ah, after the goddess from Vanaheim. I can see why,” he said, smiling down at the child proudly.

Loki smiled uneasily at the looks on the other’s confused faces. “The Vanir are a race with the magic of fertility. Freyja is the goddess of love of their people. Beauty makes her cry golden tears, much like the almost-golden hair of my daughter, who is most beautiful,” he said, looking at the child so lovingly it made those who were still trying to hate him very uncomfortable.

“Right,” Tony said, nodding. “Can we get back to ‘species’? I’m with Steve when I say- _what_?!” he asked. “I know I have issues with science clashing with the whole ‘gods’ thing, but… that doesn’t make _sense_ ,” he stressed.

Loki snorted, rolling his eyes. “Magic,” he said pointedly. He smiled sadly. “I have had many children in my life. Time is very different in different realms, you now?” Thor’s eyes grew sad, though Loki’s never left his daughter’s hair and face. “When I was younger, I had a bet with another warrior about something. I forget what now. But through magical ways, I mated with the greatest war stallion of Asgard and bore an eight legged foal. My son, Sleipnir.” He sighed with a bitter look. “My father took him from me and made him his steed. He is a very brave steed, he has carried my father through battle many times, but I still had my child taken from me,” he said sadly. He glanced at Thor, then looked away. “I fathered three children just after I threw myself into an abyss, before I was completely enslaved and was still free to go.” He looked up at Thor. “I know, now, brother, you did not throw me. I did it myself.” He looked down at Freyja. “A wolf named Fenrir, a serpent named Jörmungand, and a daughter who was half-dead. Odin chained Fenrir where he is to remain until the battle of the End. He cast Jörmungand into the sea and Hel to her own realm where she rules over the dead.” He flinched. “When I was not yet bound by those who brainwashed me, I escaped once. I ran away, I married, and had two sons. Then I found out Odin’s men knew I was alive and were after me. Thor did not know I was alive, but the Allfather did. When Odin’s men captured me-“ His breath caught. “They dragged us into a cave. They- then turned Váli into a wolf and laughed as he ripped his brother, Narfi, apart,” he whimpered, tears in his eyes.

Thor’s jaw clenched. “I was not aware of this going on at the time, or I swear to you Brother, I would have ended them, guards of the realm or not,” he swore.

Loki looked down. “They bound me to a rock with my own son’s entrails and tortured me for a long time. They killed my other son and my wife helped them kill her own child to escape me,” he said bitterly. He looked up. “When I was taken back to Asgard by Thor and discovered I was with child, you can understand why I was afraid,” he said, searching their eyes. “No matter what I had done, my child is innocent,” he said, stroking her hair as he looked at her again. “They would have killed her like they did the others simply for being mortal, I fear. At the very least, they would take her from me as they did all my other children.”

Steve sighed. “Jeez, I hate the bastard and even I think that’s sick,” he said to Natasha, gesturing to Loki. “Who would _do_ that?!”

Thor cringed. “Many servants of my father are loyal only to Asgardians. They revile any other beings and Loki’s children were never Asgardian. Odin Allfather either did not know or did not care what his men did.”

Natasha sighed. “Stark, what do we do? Your house, your rules,” she said begrudgingly.

Tony gasped dramatically. “Agent Romanov asking my opinion?! Catch me as I faint,” he joked, then laughed. “Hell if I know! We have an Asgardian refugee and a baby, both of whom are mortal right now, and obviously we can’t send them back but we all still kind of hate him cause of the whole ‘tried to subjugate us’ thing, ALTHOUGH he was brainwashed and tortured… I’m lost,” he admitted.

Steve looked at the baby in Loki’s lap. “Well, one thing is for sure, and that is that we can’t let anything happen to a _baby_ ,” he stressed. “I mean it’s a baby!”

Bruce pointed at Natasha. “Fury does _not_ find out.”

Tony nodded. “Agreed.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow. “Why not? Director Fury needs to stay briefed on everything Avengers related-“

“Natasha,” Bruce started, giving her a stern look. “Dig out some humanity here. It’s a _baby_ ,” he stressed, gesturing to her. “You know he would want to take her from Loki and put them both in cells just because it’s suspicious.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, but Barton will want to kill him when he gets back,” she said, nodding at Loki, who ducked his head quickly.

Steve frowned. “Loki may have messed with his head, but would he really kill someone with a baby?”

Natasha glared. “What part of ‘assassin’ don’t you get, Steve. We kill anybody. At all. I doubt he’d blink about killing the baby too-“

“The hell he will,” Steve said quickly. “Can I express again- IT. IS. A. BABY!”

She shrugged. “Loki’s baby,” she said simply.

Thor shot them both looks. “No one is going to hurt Loki or his child. No one is going to part Loki from his child. If I must, I will take responsibility for them and keep Loki with me at all times, but I will not let you or Agent Barton hurt them,” he said fiercely. “You may be strong, Assassin, a very brave warrior, but I must remind you _I_ am still a Prince of Asgard.”

Natasha glared. “Keep your brother in line and we won’t have to find out exactly how strong I am, then.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “Guys, first things first, we need to get baby things. May I remind you, there’s a naked baby wrapped in a curtain sitting on that couch eating smashed fruit that it’s probably too young to eat safely.”

Tony nodded. “JARVIS, Doctor Banner is right, have Pepper order baby supplies.”

“Right away, sir,” JARVIS replied and Loki startled, looking around in shock. 

Tony cringed. “Oh yeah, JARVIS is everywhere, he’s like…” He looked at Bruce for help and Bruce waved a hand.

“An omniscient robot that has no body but inhabits Tony’s buildings and things,” he said and Loki gave him a skeptical look.

“A robot spirit?” he asked and Tony smirked.

“Yes. Exactly!” He clapped. “So, question! You were here three months ago, how do you have a baby that old?” 

Loki smiled down at Freyja. “Time is different between realms. I may have been here two months ago, but in that time I fulfilled a pregnancy at a human rate of development, gave birth, and within the time between giving birth, being discovered, being beaten, Frigga showing up, and the trip between realms with her lesser power, it amounted to enough time for Freyja to reach about ten months in Midgardian age,” he said. “I assume about that much. Humans are one race I’ve never mated with before. She ages strangely but she is definitely beautiful, so I’m not terribly concerned.”

Thor put a hand on Loki’s back. “Let us go to my chambers, Brother. I will watch over you and Freyja as you rest. You most definitely need to recover with such a fragile, mortal form. I remember well how exhausting it was.”

Loki sighed. “I do feel very pained and tired,” he admitted, allowing Thor to use his strength to hold most of Loki’s weight as they left, Freyja in Thor’s other arm to keep her safe should the others decide to go back on their agreement.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Thor watched over his brother as he slept fitfully, whining in pain every time he shifted, though he didn’t wake. It was strange to see Loki stripped of his magic. Loki, who was always such a great sorcerer, had been reduced to no more than a human. He looked at the child that slumbered in the bed next to Loki, and couldn’t help but smile. She was clearly human, but it was that very trait that made her very beautiful. Thor walked around the bed and reached out to stroke her hair gently. He could not escape affection and hope for this child. His brother had never had the easiest life. His own twisted malignances aside, Loki had suffered greatly at the hands of those set out to find him by Odin’s men. He had only heard of Loki’s children other than Sleipnir, but having none himself, Thor could only imagine Loki suffered greatly at the loss of each and every one.

Thor knew his friends did not trust Loki nor his child, but Thor knew that in this case, Loki was not playing a game with them. And if it came down to protecting Loki and Freyja or remaining in alliance with his Midgardian friends, he knew where his loyalties would lie.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was poking at the things Pepper and Bruce were sorting out on the coffee table, whining when Pepper or Bruce one slapped his hand away. “What’s this?” he asked, poking something lumpy and rubber that came in bright colors.

Bruce slapped his hand away, glaring. “It’s a teething ring. Stop touching things! Your sanitary ways aside, these things are going to be touched by a baby, don’t get them dirty,” he chastised.

Tony narrowed his eyes. “How do you know so much about babies? Pepper has nieces and nephews, but you have no family,” he said and Pepper glared at Tony, shaking her head.

Bruce smiled sadly, picking up a baby outfit with a wistful gaze on the little clothes he laid to the side where the rest of the clothes were. “Well, mostly I have dealt with a lot of sick children in my travels,” he pointed out. “But I always wanted kids,” he said with a sad little shrug. “Things don’t always work out for me, if you haven’t noticed,” he grumbled dryly.

Pepper gave him a bitter smile. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you, Bruce,” she said and Bruce shrugged in a ‘what can you do?’ gesture. “I still don’t believe you guys actually have a child up here. I think this was a social experiment of some sort,” she accused.

Almost as if by request, the soft sound of crying reached their ears. They all turned just in time to see Thor coming down the hall from the elevator, rocking the crying child. “Hush, little one!” he urged, smiling at her. “You require food, do you not? Cease your tears for I will feed you,” he promised, pressing his lips to her head, only to stop when he saw his friends. “Ah! Clothing for the child, yes?” he asked, looking at the table. “And what bright colors! Look Freyja, would you like to wear these Midgardian clothes now rather than your uncle’s cape?” he asked in a soft voice.

Pepper just stared. “Thor is holding a baby,” she said blankly.

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, he does that,” he said. “Goldilocks, Pepper kind of just went crazy and bought some of everything, have at it.” He gestured to the things spread across the table.

Thor nodded. “What is there to feed her? I feel she is not able to eat real food,” he said and Bruce reached out to grab a tiny orange jar and an empty bottle. “What are these?”

“Baby food and a bottle for milk. If she’s about the age Loki said, she should probably be able to just drink cow’s milk from here without a problem.” He handed it to Pepper. “Warm the milk up, can you?” he asked and Pepper smiled.

“Good thing we’ve got somebody with medical experience around because I don’t think any of us would know how to feed a baby otherwise,” she said, stopping to coo at the baby when she passed. “Well, to have an evil parent, she certainly is cute.”

Tony nodded to Thor. “Your brother isn’t going to freak out over you taking his kid?”

Thor shook his head. “I suspect my brother will sleep a while yet. I shall take her back before he wakes. He won’t know she was missing.”

Thor had just settled with a bottle brought back from Pepper, pleased to find his niece drank heartily, when they heard voices approaching. They looked up expecting Steve and Natasha, only to see it was Natasha and Clint. Bruce paused, shooting Thor a look only to see him obliviously smiling as he fed his brother’s baby. “Look, Stark, Banner, and Rogers probably need to talk to you about something before-“

Natasha froze and cringed as she saw the baby in Thor’s lap. “Damn.”

Clint gaped. “Thor has a baby?!” 

Bruce fidgeted with the blanket he was folding. “Look… about that-“

He was interrupted, however, as they all heard a voice coming from the corridor. “FREYJA?! WHERE IS FREYJA?!” Loki’s voice carried as he shouted frantically for his child.

Thor stood quickly, putting the bottle down as he looked at the hall. “Damn, I thought he would sleep,” he hissed. “She is here!” he called quickly.

What Thor didn’t count on was for Loki to rush into the room, one hand on his side, clutching his broken ribs, only to freeze when Agent Barton wordlessly whirled around, gun trained on him. “NO!” Loki screamed, stumbling slightly, clinging to the doorway, frozen in fear. “Look-“

“Clint, no,” Natasha said, putting a hand on his arm, only to tense when he kept his eyes leveled, grip tightening on his gun. “Clint, stop-“

“Why?” he asked, turning to look at her with shock in his eyes. He looked up, confused. “Why is nobody else-“

Bruce held up a hand. “Long story but he isn’t our enemy right now-“

“The hell he isn’t!” Barton hissed, raising the gun higher, aiming it directly at Loki’s head. “Why is he standing there and nobody else targeting him?” he demanded, eyes not leaving his mark.

Thor shifted Freyja to one arm, holding up a hand as he edged towards Loki slightly. “Barton, he is not our enemy. Not now. Lower your weapon,” he instructed, moving closer.

Loki hissed. “Thor stop! Get Freyja away!” he pleaded, looking between her and Barton’s gun. 

“I meant no harm, she was hungry and you need rest. I was going to have her back before you woke-“

“Are we ignoring that he has a _gun_ pointed towards my child?!” Loki interrupted, gesturing to the assassin. “Take her _away_!”

Natasha touched Clint’s arm. “Think about it, he’s injured and he has a baby. Don’t do this-“

“Why shouldn’t I?” Clint hissed, finger tightening a fraction of an inch on the gun, only to pause when Loki closed his eyes and turned his head away, tense and afraid. “What would it do anyhow,” he laughed humorlessly. “I can’t even kill the bastard-“

“He’s human, Clint. Human, injured, and has a baby, don’t do this,” Bruce said. “Don’t put yourself in that situation, trust me,” he said gently.

Loki sniffled, eyes still shut even as he quaked with fear. “Please, if you are going to kill me, do it, but do not hurt Freyja,” he pleaded in a resigned voice. 

“Clint,” Natasha said, putting a hand over the top of his gun, pushing his hand down with little resistance. “I know you have more right than any of us to hate him, we all hate him, but he’s not a danger right now. I swear on our friendship, he was barely able to walk last night. He really is just a man.”

Barton tensed but nodded. “If he so much as breathes wrong, though…”

Tony nodded. “Don’t worry, Katniss, if he turns on us, you’re free to have at it,” he approved.

Loki relaxed visibly, sagging some before righting himself, staggering over to Thor, arms out for his child. Thor handed her over and then put a hand on Loki’s elbow, helping him balance. “Freyja, my dear, I was so scared,” he whispered, kissing the child’s hair. She babbled and smiled, reaching out for her mother’s face. “Mother is hear, my sweet, it’s all right,” he said, sagging into Thor’s side slightly as he closed his eyes and pressed his face into his baby’s hair. “Thor, I asked you not to take her from me-“

“I meant no harm,” he said apologetically. “I swear on my life, Brother, I meant only to find her food and leave you to rest. You are very injured,” he said, leading his brother over to the chair he’d been sitting in, helping him lower himself without jostling Freyja or hurting himself.

Barton just stared. “Where did he get a baby. Why is nobody else here freaking out that he stole a kid?” he asked and Thor stood tall, stalking over to Barton with an angered look on his face.

“My brother is not your enemy any longer, archer,” he hissed. “He stole no child and you shall not speak of his daughter that way! He is under my protection and I _dare_ you to aim your weapon at him again-“

Tony held up a hand. “Thor, buddy, he was just scared, okay? You know what your brother did-“

“That was then!” Thor barked, looking down at Clint, staring him in the eye as he spoke again. “I know my brother’s crimes, I know his powers used on you when he was on earth last, but now he is only a man, one who is injured and who ran for the life of his child. He was willing to pay for his crimes in Asgard, the only reason he ran is to escape having his child murdered. She is nothing but a human child and I swear to you, warrior, I shall end your days if you so much as think of harming her or her mother,” he warned darkly.

Barton just stared back defiantly. “Keep him away from me and I’ll think about it,” he said simply, swallowing hard as his eyes flickered to the baby. “Where the hell did he get a baby?”

Tony beamed. “This is great, man, apparently Loki can give birth!” he said excitedly. “How cool is that?!”

Bruce nodded. “Well, with the right magic anyhow. Mortal Loki would’ve died, apparently. But yeah, male birth!” he said, clearly as interested in the subject as Stark was.

Barton narrowed his eyes. “How, though.” He lowered his voice so that Loki couldn’t hear them, walking closer to Stark, Banner, and Natasha as Thor went back to his brother. “When-“ He flinched. “When we were all under his spell, we could feel the sensory memory. He’d been siding with the ones behind the attack a hell of a lot longer than that kid has been around.”

Natasha shook her head. “He told us he got pregnant when he was here harnessing the Tesseract. Something about time in realms being different relative to each other.”

Tony nodded. “Human baby means human baby-daddy,” he said, grinning. 

Barton paled. “What?” he asked hollowly and Bruce nodded.

“According to him, his power over the humans working for him was enough that he was able to…” He cringed. “Well, I guess it would be rape,” he said and Tony nodded.

“Oh definitely rape,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Like anybody would want to sleep with that skinny, pale bastard.”

Bruce chuckled. “Anyways, apparently his mind wasn’t totally his own at the time, he was just as brainwashed as his minions-“

“Minions, Bruce, really?” Tony asked but Bruce went on.

“And he wasn’t that great at controlling his magic and he said something about thinking of a ‘simpler time’ while he was having sex, and for him, the simpler time was the last time he was pregnant.” He cringed. “Although, according to him, the last time he was pregnant was followed by some really shitty luck,” he said and Tony nodded.

“For realz,” he said, earning a snort of amusement from Bruce.

Barton just looked over at Loki and the baby and stared, pale as a sheet. “I’ve got to go,” he said, turning to run out, going out of his way to get away from the room without passing by Loki to get to the door.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki clutched Freyja closer, glaring at Bruce. “No!” he hissed quickly.

Bruce held up his hands. “It’s for her own good,” he said simply. So far the attempts to get Loki to let Bruce check Freyja over weren’t going so well. “Look, Loki,” he started, giving him his widest ‘puppy eyes’- as Tony called them- in hopes it made Loki relent. “I may be a lot of things but I swear on my LIFE I would never and could never hurt a child,” he promised. He shook his head, hands still out as unthreateningly as possible. “I only want to make sure she’s okay. I swear on my life I would never harm a child, no matter what.”

Loki narrowed his eyes. “You are unable to be harmed and suffer almost as much self-loathing as I did when I first discovered I wasn’t actually Odinson, swear on something more important to you than your life,” he challenged. “Your lover’s life, perhaps.”

Bruce wavered. “My… what?” He shook his head. “I don’t have a lover-“

Loki raised a challenging eyebrow. “What, do you Midgardians not call them your lovers? Do you call each other mates? Bedfellows?” he asked and Bruce gave him a confused look. “Oh for-“ He rolled his eyes. “Just swear on Stark’s life, whatever it is you call each other,” he demanded.

Bruce suddenly flushed. “Tony?! Wha- No!” He chuckled awkwardly, fidgeting with his glasses. “Tony and I aren’t lovers, we’re just friends,” he said and Loki narrowed his eyes.

“You have many friends, why do you act differently around him if he is only a friend?” he accused and Bruce shrugged.

“He’s the only one that really isn’t afraid of me, the rest aren’t real friends like he is,” he admitted, then cleared his throat. “Anyhow, fine. I swear on Tony’s life that I won’t harm your daughter if you let me just check her over to make sure she’s healthy,” he promised.

Loki eyed him for a long while before sighing. “Alright, but _only_ because humans are so fragile and I worry about her frequently.” He glared at him as he walked closer. “But I swear to you, mortal and powerless or not, if you harm my child I shall bring wrath upon you like you have never experienced, mongrel,” he spat acridly, showing a flicker of his old self in his human eyes.

Bruce just smiled. “I won’t, don’t worry,” he said, taking Freyja to set her on the table, Loki standing right beside her the entire time.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was labeling some empty vials when he heard a curious hum and a tap on the table just before Tony called out to him. “Hey, you’re the biology guy, what would make these similarities in genetic markers?” he asked, spinning the hologram towards Bruce, who looked up and pulled off his glasses as he walked over to Tony’s side. 

Bruce frowned. “Why are you going through Freyja’s DNA mapping? I only took blood samples to make sure she was healthy, I didn’t intend to extract a DNA sample.”

Tony shrugged. “I was bored and figured ‘hey, how human is human?’ and I set JARVIS to running her genome to try and figure out if she’s totally human or just appears to be like one since Thor told me Loki’s biological species are giant blue people.”

Bruce put his glasses back on and shifted some gene sequences around. “Well, I’m not a master of human genetic biology, but these markers indicate these two samples are parent and child.” He hummed. “Where did you get a sample of Loki’s DNA? Did you swipe one of the rags from when he showed up or-“

Tony dragged the screen down with an amused chuckle. “I _don’t_ have a sample of Loki’s DNA,” he said, and Bruce’s jaw dropped when he saw what name was on the DNA file. “JARVIS apparently found similar markers in the SHIELD database and cross-referenced the DNA samples to be sure that Freyja’s samples weren’t contaminated.”

Bruce let out a soft ‘huh’. “Well,” he started, turning to glance at Tony. “At least we know who Freyja’s human father is now.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Thor was sitting upright in his chair, watching Natasha suspiciously as she lounged on the couch- seemingly relaxing with a book- while Loki played with Freyja on the floor in front of Thor when Bruce and Tony came into the room. Thor looked up and smiled before fixing his eyes back on Natasha, who hadn’t moved.

“Still waiting on Tasha to kill somebody yet?” Tony asked and Natasha lowered her book.

“Don’t call me Tasha,” she threatened and Tony smirked.

“Why not? I’ve heard Barton call you ‘Nat’-“

Natasha narrowed her eyes. “Don’t bring Clint into this, and he gets to call me Nat because I hate him marginally less than anybody else. Well, most days,” she amended. “Besides, I’m not gonna kill anybody in this room. Today,” she added in a quieter tone, earning a glare from Thor. 

Bruce shrugged. “Well just keep in mind that Thor doesn’t die easily when you turn on us and I’m unkillable,” he said, giving her a playful smile as he sat on the arm of the chair Tony sank into. “Clint would be sad if you got smashed.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Why did we have to bring Barton into this to begin with? He isn’t involved in this conversation anyhow.”

Tony smirked. “Funny you should say that-“ Bruce shook his head frantically but Tony ignored him. “Seeing as we accidentally discovered earlier that Barton is the babydaddy of the kid you may or may not be plotting against!” Bruce groaned and clapped a hand over his face when Natasha dropped her book, eyes widening at Tony.

“What was that, Stark?” she asked cautiously, eyes darting over to Loki, who had frozen, staring at the floor with wide, terrified eyes from his spot kneeling beside Freyja.

Tony shrugged. “It does explain his reaction to wanting to shoot Loki the other day. He put two and two together,” he said, then snickered. “Or should I say human and frost giant together-“

“Tony,” Bruce said sternly, giving him a pointed look. “Enough.” He looked over at Loki, who was shaking slightly as he looked at the floor, hand on Freyja fearfully, as if he was expecting to have to pull her into his arms at any moment.

“How did you find out?” he whispered, glancing up at Bruce only, eyes wide with fear.

Bruce smiled apologetically. “It wasn’t on purpose, I’m sorry. Tony was running Freyja’s blood samples to look into the DNA and see if she was really human or a hybrid since you look human when you aren’t. JARVIS was running it on automation and a flag popped up saying there was a close match for the DNA in the SHIELD database and there was a risk for contamination. But when he pulled it up, it brought up that Agent Barton had enough alleles in common to consider contamination, only we knew it wasn’t a contaminated sample and that it was a consistent result with that of father to child DNA results.”

Loki frowned. “I do not understand, what is-“

Tony sighed. “Freyja’s blood tested as half-Barton and- I assume- half Loki,” he simplified. “We really were just trying to see if she was totally human or part Frost Midget, but the automated scan pulled up different results.”

Natasha just sat up, turning to look at Loki. “ _Barton_?! Really? Out of all the people you brainwashed… him?” she asked flatly and Loki flushed and ducked his head.

“He is pleasing to the eyes and I was power-hungry and insane!” he defended quickly.

Tony smirked. “Seems like he was pleasing to something else too,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. Bruce groaned and shook his head, earning a chuckle. “Prepare yourself, Jolly Green, I’ve got plenty left where these are coming from,” Tony said, winking at his friend.

Thor looked at Loki. “Brother, we will not allow anyone to harm you or Freyja,” he said and Loki sighed.

“I would not blame him if he did kill me, I made him do terrible things- using him for sex one of the least of those- and I understand his hatred.” He looked up with wide eyes. “But I have a child who needs me. I cannot pay for my crimes and be mother to my child at the same time,” he expressed with nothing but pleading in his eyes.

Natasha sat up suddenly, book tossed aside. “Wait, did you say he reacted the way he did the other day because he put it together?” she asked, shooting Tony a pointed look.

Tony’s eyes widened. “ _Shit_ , Barton would go to Fury in a heartbeat!”

Natasha jumped up. “I’ll get ahold of Barton, you guys stay alert in case I’m too late,” she said, shooting Loki a look. “The only reason I’m doing this is because these guys believe you really are harmless now. I will _literally_ slit your throat if you end up turning on them after I disobey my orders like this,” she added, glancing down at the obliviously happy baby before running out.

Tony glanced at Bruce, who nodded at the lab before disappearing. “JARVIS, double security on the building, don’t let anybody into the elevator without authorization, tint the windows from the outside, and have my suit on standby just in case,” he instructed. “Thor, watch them here, I’m gonna go help Bruce.”

Loki looked up at Thor, who was watching the windows tint themselves so that they could see out but nothing could see in. “Brother?” he asked and Thor sighed.

“We are probably safest just where we are. However, I suggest you go put on your shoes. Just in case,” he added, and Loki nodded, scooping Freyja into his arms.

“I will be right back, Thor,” he said, earning a nod from his brother.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
For two days, the entire tower stayed on alert. Natasha couldn’t reach Clint and that only ever happened when he was on a mission. However, Bruce and Tony found no evidence that SHIELD had him on a mission when they hacked SHIELD.

Nobody was terribly comfortable with how tense the tower had become. Steve was completely unable to understand how a man could rat out a _child_ , Natasha felt wrong going behind her friend’s back, Thor was untrusting of everyone, Tony and Bruce both still had trouble believing Loki but didn’t stand beside the idea of turning them over, and Loki was just plain afraid. His daughter was just a child and he did not want to lose her or force her to grow up without a loving parent.

Loki refused to put her down for too long, so as he went to change his clothes, he took her with him. He had only just walked out of the room, fairly confident that the hallway from the living room to his and Thor’s temporary bedroom on Stark’s floor of the tower was safe, when a faint whistling was the only warning he got of the arrow flying at his head. Even in a human body, it was only his instincts and reflexes that allowed him to duck just before the arrow struck the wall where his face had been. He cried out and clutched Freyja to his chest, jumping closer to the wall fast enough to make her start crying. “NO!” he cried, turning to look, only to freeze when he saw Barton, in his full tactical gear, draw another arrow and knock it, braced to draw another as he walked towards Loki. “Please, stop!” he pleaded, backing into the corner, eyes widening as Barton drew his arrow and aimed. Loki slid to his knees. “Please stop and think-“

“I am thinking,” Barton said in a dark voice. “Thinking about how badly I wanted to put an arrow through your eye socket last time you were in New York-“

Freyja let out a loud scream, crying into Loki’s neck and Loki couldn’t even stop himself looking down at her with the threat of death yards from him. He released his tight hold on her, cradling her against his chest more loosely before looking up. “Please, she’s just a child,” Loki breathed, tears filling his eyes as he put a hand over the back of her head, hunching his shoulders to shield her as best as he could with his own body. “I know you have reason to hate me, I know _all_ of you have good reason to hate me and I am willing to pay for what I’ve done-“

“Unlikely, seeing as you aren’t in Asgard where Thor left you,” Barton said, looking up when they heard glass shattering. “That’ll be Fury’s men,” he said, aiming once more.

Loki shook his head quickly. “No, not like this,” he begged. He looked at Freyja and closed his eyes, tears slipping free as he kissed her head. “Please, I swear on her life, if you let me give her to Thor and take her away, I will let you do whatever you want. Your men, your world, all of you can do whatever you see fit with me,” he choked out, swallowing hard at the thought of Freyja growing up without a mother. “But please don’t hurt her. And don’t- don’t kill me in front of her,” he pleaded, eyes wide and tearful. “You can have your arrow where you want it, but let our daughter go,” he breathed, only to freeze when he realized what he said. 

Barton wavered, face burning as his eyes filled with anger. “Don’t _say that_ ,” he hissed, hand shaking on his bow. 

Loki shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t mean anything by what I said, even if she _is_ -“

Barton shook his head. “Don’t you dare call her mine,” he said, eyes flickering to the crying baby as his slowly approaching steps hesitated. “That kid doesn’t even belong on earth,” he spat and Loki closed his eyes, resting his chin against his child’s head.

“She is human,” he whispered. “And she belongs with her mother but I understand if that can’t happen. She- her uncle will care for her if I cannot be there.” He waited for a moment, fearing the inevitable ‘shick’ of release he would scarcely hear before he was dead. However, it didn’t come. He slowly opened his eyes, only to see Barton had lowered his bow and was looking down at Freyja, who had turned to look at him in Loki’s arms, her sobs stopping as she stared with wide blue eyes at her mother’s would-be killer. Barton sighed, slumping against the wall next to him, which startled Loki as he had not expected the assassin to relent. “I don’t understand-“

Clint laughed hollowly. “I can’t fucking do it,” he laughed bitterly. He closed his eyes, fingers gripping the bridge of his nose. He let his head fall back against the wall with a thud. “I was orphaned at a young age,” he whispered, looking over at Freyja. “Fuck, you have to run,” he said suddenly. He stood up and glanced upwards to where the sounds of fighting had become audible. “Take your kid and run.” 

Loki slowly stood, frowning suspiciously. “I do not-“

Clint turned to stalk away. “It’s simple. I was an orphan and I can’t fucking orphan a child. Go before I change my mind,” he said without looking back until he got to the elevator. “I’ve gotta clear up the shit storm upstairs, run before I change my mind,” he said as the doors slid shut.

Loki looked down at Freyja wordlessly before looking up and running back to where the other’s had been before, only to find the windows broken in and signs of a struggle all over the room. He heard fighting outside and looked around frantically, only to jump when that bodiless voice spoke seemingly from the thin air. “Loki, sir, Mr. Stark is currently fighting and drawing the battle upstairs accompanied by Thor. Dr. Banner has locked himself in the panic room so that he doesn’t harm anyone and Agent Romanov has disappeared. I would suggest doing downstairs where you shall find less danger and possibly Ms. Potts still working on her executive floor.”

Loki cleared his throat. “Um, thank you?” he offered unsurely, taking only a moment to grab the bag of baby supplies he had brought out into the living room earlier before running for the elevator doors. He had only made it down four floors before the doors opened. He gasped and shrank back, only to be more than relieved when the doors parted just far enough for Pepper to rush in. “Loki! Thank God,” she said, pressing the express override that went to the garage. “We’re getting out of here. Tony has them convinced you two are on the jet Agent Romanov took off in, we can run for it.”

“Where will we go? Surely they will find us-“

Pepper shook her head. “Tony has a house in California. If we make out of here and to his private jet, we’ll make it for sure, no worries,” she said, watching the numbers flicker on the screen.

Loki looked down at Freyja. “Why are you all doing this?” he asked suddenly. “It makes no sense, I am your enemy, why is everyone doing so much for us?”

Pepper gave him a sympathetic look. “Because deep down, we’re all humans. Every single one of us has hearts, even if some of them pretend they don’t, and a human has to be heartless to let a child get hurt, Loki.”

Loki smiled at her gratefully. “Thank you. So much,” he added, brushing his daughter’s hair absently. “I know I have done wrong, I don’t want to be forgiven, I just want her to be protected.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki was surprised to see Thor pacing angrily in front of a bound Agent Barton, clearly arguing with Mr. Stark and Agent Romanov over how to proceed when he arrived at the house he, Freyja, and Ms. Potts had been brought to. When Thor looked up a relieved look crossed his face. “Loki!” He rushed over and looked down at Freyja, who was asleep in Loki’s arms. “Is she alright?”

Loki nodded. “Yes, she is just sleeping,” he said, shushing him some. “What is going on?” he asked, looking over at where Steve was looking down at Clint with disappointment in his eyes.

“What’s going on, my startlingly pale friend,” Stark started, still wearing his Iron Man suit with his mask simply up. “Is that Clint here mounted a mission to storm my castle and kidnap everybody’s favorite Frosted Flake,” he said, gesturing to Loki’s baby in his arms. 

Barton rolled his eyes. “The aim wasn’t to kidnap a baby, it was to kill Loki- sorry about that, again,” he added.

Loki smiled sadly. “You should release him,” he said, nodding to Barton. “He had every chance to kill me and yet he let Freyja and I go. He is a man with heart and he was only doing what he thought was right to begin with,” he said, shocking even Pepper.

“Brother, what do you mean let you go? He found you and Freyja?” Thor asked and Loki nodded.

“There was an arrow aimed at my head, I was fully at his mercy, and yet he spared my life because he didn’t have the emptiness it takes to murder someone who is holding a child,” he said simply. “He allowed me to live and I suspect he gave himself up to you lot without fighting you. He was wrong, yes, but if you can let me roam amongst you freely just because I have a baby, I feel as though a man sparing my life for the same cause is enough to deserve his freedom.” He shrugged a tiny shrug, looking around the room. “He essentially did what you all have- spared me for my daughter’s sake, not for my own. If it wasn’t for Freyja- and Thor- I would have been long killed by any of you, wouldn’t I?”

Tony hummed. “Lord Voldemort has a point, we would’ve all killed him- besides Thor- if he wasn’t carrying a baby when he showed up,” he agreed, earning a few noises of assent from around the room.

Steve frowned. “Lord who?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Somebody give Fancy Pants the Harry Potter books,” he instructed. “Tall, skinny, pale, evil, that’s all you need to know,” he said succinctly. 

Natasha stood up and walked over. “Sure we can let you go, Clint?” she asked, pulling out a knife. “You know I can take you if you try something,” she said and he chuckled.

“I’m not going to turn on you guys again, Nat,” he said earnestly, looking up at her. “I really was just following orders. I’m not you, I can’t break orders that easily. Not after last time.”

She shook her head and cut the ropes holding him. “Alright, but I’m not stopping them from doing whatever if you pull this again,” she chastised, stepping back to let him up.

Pepper walked over and promptly slapped him across the face, earning a shocked gasp from Tony and a proud grin from Natasha. Clint just looked confused. “How dare you point a weapon anywhere in the direction of a _baby_?” she demanded, glaring angrily.

“I- I wasn’t aiming at the baby,” he defended, ducking when she swung again so that she barely smacked him in the head. “Hey, I said I wasn’t aiming at the baby!”

“What if you had missed?!” she demanded. “AND! If you shot him, he’d drop her and his body could land on her!”

He just ducked his eyes. “I won’t do it again,” he mumbled, looking somewhat afraid of Pepper, to everybody’s surprise. 

“Damn right you won’t,” Steve said, hands on his hips. “Trust me, I know all about orders, but you are still the one to make the decisions and sometimes orders have to be ignored,” he chastised.

Natasha shrugged. “No offense, but you were a soldier, not a spy,” she said, giving Clint a look. “I get why you did it, but I tend to go with whoever is most likely to have my back. SHIELD has a tendency to go behind our backs.”

Clint gave a sheepish look around. “I’m sorry about the tower, Stark,” he said and Tony snorted.

“Yeah, thanks for that. That’s twice in one year I’ve had to remodel. Both times were Loki-related,” he said looking over at Loki, who shrugged. “Alright, we don’t have a lot of time, Pep,” he said, walking over to her. “SHIELD knows all my secrets here, Barton may have defected, but Fury has files on everything I’ve got here,” he said, gesturing around the workshop. “We need to get somewhere safer. Well, I say we, we need to get Loki somewhere safer,” he said.

Natasha nodded. “We should probably split up. Stark, I need a favor first,” she said, unzipping her jumpsuit, exposing her bra and bare skin.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Uh… is this really the best time?” he asked and she glared, turning around to pull her hair out of the way, baring her back.

“SHIELD has a tracking device two inches left of my spine about one inch down. I forgot it’s there but you need to kill it or take it out before they track me down with it.”

Barton’s eyes widened. “Do I have one of those?” he asked in alarm and she chuckled darkly.

“Not in your shoulder,” she said and his jaw dropped. She glanced down, chuckling. “Three inches below your left butt cheek. The nurse was insistent it had to go there,” she said and Barton huffed.

“That explains those stitches I didn’t remember needing _before_ they sedated me to take out my appendix,” he said with a grumpy tone, hand going to his butt instinctively. 

Tony smirked and winked. “I’ll start with Barton-“

“I’ll take care of him,” Bruce argued, coming back from the worktable. “Don’t worry, no molestation on my part, Clint,” he said and Clint shot Tony a dark look as he walked over to Bruce.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki was feeding Freyja, sitting on the stairs outside Stark’s workshop, when Barton came walking up the stairs. He tensed and shrank back some but Barton held his hands up, stopping a few steps down. “Whoa, I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said and Loki narrowed his eyes, glancing down at Freyja to take hold of her bottle again, since she was dozing off and couldn’t hold it herself. 

“What do you want?” he asked, stroking a finger along Freyja’s chubby little cheek.

Barton sighed. “To apologize. I’m sorry for the whole ‘tried to kill you’ thing.” He paused. “Well, I’m not because you’re SHIELD’s enemy and I was doing my job, but the others trust you and I should’ve just checked with them before reporting you to SHIELD.”

Loki smiled sadly. “I do not blame you for that. I just wish you had shown the same mercy they did. Granted,” he allowed. “I turned up soaked in my own blood and barely conscious when they showed me mercy. Had I not been clearly unable to harm anyone and clutching a child, they may have not been so careless as to care for me.”

Barton looked at her. “How did you get to earth?” he asked and Loki chuckled.

“My mother’s love,” he said softly. “When I was returned to Asgard, the hold on my mind began to break and Odin had me imprisoned rather than executed.” He shook his head. “That fool decided to love me after all the damage had been done,” he grumbled. He looked up. “I do not know if you know the story or not, but I was unaware until just before I… lost my mind a bit,” he smile sheepishly. “That I was adopted.”

Barton nodded. “Thor mentioned to the others and I heard it afterwards.”

Loki nodded. “Yes, but not only was I adopted, I am-“ He cringed. “I am of the race which Thor’s father is revered for destroying. He mounted a war against the Jotunns and slaughtered them in droves. He found a baby left to die, a runt for Frost Giants are _giants_ and I was the size of an Asgardian. Rather than leave me there to die as I was meant to be, he took me home to Asgard. I took on the appearance of a normal Asgardian child at the touch of his hands.” He shrugged. “He and Mother raised me as their own. Thor was a little older but not enough to notice I had appeared without Mother being with-child.” He looked away, eyes stormy. “I was raised as all Asgardian children are. The Jotunns were the monsters in the dark of children stories. They were the thing under your bed. Frost Giants were the creatures in the dark that would steal you away if you were bad. I was a prince of the king who defeated them and left them the scattered remains of an empire. My brother and I were raised playing warriors and Frost Giants, we spoke of how we would too destroy them as our father had done.” He looked up. “You can only imagine my despair upon discovering I _was_ a Frost Giant. I am the monster in the darkness. I am the epitome of evil, the reviled scum of the nine realms. I was not Odinson but rather the discarded child of Laufey, king of the realm of Jotunnheim.” He shook his head. “I… lost my mind, I admit,” he whispered. “I grew up in the shadow of my older, more valiant brother. The favored son. But I wasn’t too upset because Thor loved me and Mother always treated us as equals in her heart.” He clenched his jaw. “But you must be able to imagine the break my mind suffered upon the discovery that I wasn’t even Asgardian. I wasn’t even Odin’s child. I was just another stolen relic,” he whispered darkly.

Barton nodded. “That’s when there was the big battle in New Mexico, right?” he asked and Loki cringed.

“I was out of my mind. I blamed my brother for being the favorite. I wanted to destroy any chance of him returning and taking the throne from me, as I had been crowned king in his absence.” He smiled sadly. “Upon his return I was beyond reason. I was intent on completely destroying Jotunnheim and proving myself to my father. I was intent on becoming the best king Asgard had ever had. And in doing so, I lost all sanity. I began to fray at the edges and in the end, my father proved he did not love me,” he whispered. “So I threw myself to my death.”

Barton’s eyes widened. “What?! How did you survive?”

Loki chuckled darkly. “Rather than drifting to oblivion, I was found and captured. Taken hold of by Thanos and those who brainwashed me into the attack I mounted upon Midgard. I was tortured and brainwashed into ‘understanding’ that I needn’t worry about being the king of Asgard but that I could rule multiple realms if I gave them the power my magic contained and used it to get them the tesseract and attack Midgard.”

Barton nodded. “So, you got home and your mind cleared. If you were locked up, how did you get back here?”

“I mentioned my mother’s love, and it is true.” He chuckled. “I had just been imprisoned and my magic stripped, leaving me mortal, when she came to visit and discovered I was with child. She was able to restore just enough magic to keep pregnancy from killing my mortal form. She would visit often enough to restore enough power that was being drained in my state. However, after I gave birth, the magic was entirely gone. I wasn’t able to keep her hidden from my guards for very long and when they discovered her, they took her and began to torture me.” He cringed. “Odin may have given me leniency but his men have always hated me. Odin’s warriors, apart from my former friends, were the ones who hunted me, who killed my other children before, they hated everything that was not Asgardian and I do not doubt had my mother not arrived they would have killed us both.” He kissed Freyja’s head, taking the bottle from her as she fell asleep. “She would not have allowed me to lose another child. She knew, as Thor does now, the pain I have suffered at the hands of those men as they killed and cast out my children before. She could not defend her actions of giving me magic though, so she knew the only way I could survive in my mortal form with a mortal infant was to use what little power she had left to transport me to Thor.”

Barton sighed. “And Thor was with Stark?” Loki nodded. “Jesus, I really should’ve got the whole story first,” he said, shaking his head. “How many children have you had?” he asked and Loki smiled a sad, vacant smile down at Freyja.

“While I may have fathered more children I am not truly aware of in my youth, I have had one son taken into Odin’s service, two sons and a daughter cast out, and two sons murdered before my own eyes at the hands of their own mother,” he said sadly. “And now Freyja is my most fragile child yet and I am at my most fragile state ever. I have never been mortal before and I’ve never had a _human_ child.”

Barton chuckled humorlessly. “I would ask where she came from, but I think I remember that part,’ he said and Loki cringed, flushing.

“I-I am so sorry for that. I cannot possibly expect you to forgive me for what I did to you, Agent Barton,” he stuttered, cheeks on fire. “I don’t expect your forgiveness but I promise I was not myself. I can only reassure you I am no longer capable of any powers at all. I am stripped of my magic most likely forever and am therefore no longer a threat to you.”

Barton shook his head with a sigh. “Well, the others know already, unfortunately. Apparently Tony searched the kid’s DNA and found it similar to mine.”

Loki nodded. “So he said.”

Barton sat down, putting his head in his hands. “Shit, she even looks like me,” he groaned, peeking through his fingers at the sleeping baby in Loki’s arms.

Loki chuckled. “Well, yes, a bit, I guess. She has your hair-color at least,” he said. “Though we both have blue eyes,” he noticed, looking at Barton. “I am sorry,” he whispered again and Barton snorted.

“Well, nearly killing you twice probably puts us about even,” he joked and Loki laughed softly.

“Yes, I guess that is fair.”

Barton stood up. “I just want you to know I’m on their side now. I’ll help protect the kid at their sides,” he said and Loki smiled a small little grin.

“Freyja. Her name is Freyja.”

Barton nodded. “Cute name. Freyja,” he said with a smile as he turned and headed downstairs back into the workroom.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki entered into what appeared to be an argument. “Look, it’s the only option-“

“It’s a stupid option, Tony,” Pepper shouted, throwing up her hands. “What the hell are you thinking-“

“He’s thinking that he’ll give us a chance to try and escape,” Steve said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Be proud, your boss is being selfless again,” he urged and Bruce chuckled.

“Don’t jinx us, Pepper,” he tried, smiling at her. “Look, I’m with Tony on this. Splitting up is our best shot.”

Loki walked over to Thor, frowning. “What is happening?”

Thor hummed. “Stark plans to take his leave and do something to draw attention to him. Ms. Potts and Captain Rogers plan to return to New York and try and convince those after us that they are there. Ms. Potts’s family has a holiday home somewhere in some mountains where we should be hidden. Dr. Banner, the assassins, and I will accompany you and Freyja to protect you.”

Loki looked around. “Is that wise?”

Thor nodded. “I believe it a sound strategy. If nothing else, having trained warriors and Dr. Banner between you and the enemy, you shall likely escape should the worst come to pass.” He strode forward. “Lady Pepper, I do understand your concerns but I believe Stark’s plan is for the best,” he announced confidently. “Three groups make it harder to hunt my brother down. Also, with the distractions you and Stark shall provide, it will be less likely we are able to be found. With all trained warriors and a brilliant man, my brother should be quite safe.”

Natasha nodded. “We should be fine, Pepper,” she reassured. “And you know Stark, if he hasn’t died by now, nothing’s going to kill him,” she added nonchalantly.

Stark smirked. “My thoughts exactly! JARVIS! You know what to do,” he said, running over to stand on a black square in the floor.

“Right away, sir.” They all watched as Tony’s suit pieces rose up out of the floor and began to assemble themselves around him, leaving him standing with his helmet in his hands.

Pepper just rolled her eyes. “Show off,” she grumbled and Tony winked.

“Of course, when have I been anything else?” he asked, clunking as he walked back over to the group. “Bruce, JARVIS has been installed at Pepper’s house in the hills, there’s a minor amount of equipment in the garage, but if something comes up, I’m sure you can handle MacGyvering whatever you need,” he said and Banner nodded.

“We’re good, Tony,” he reassured, then bit his lip. “Don’t do anything too stu- MMPH!” Bruce flailed somewhat, eyes wide in shock as Tony snagged his shirt and pulled him into a dramatic, sloppy, _intense_ kiss right in front of everybody, earning more than a few shocked looks. When Bruce was finally released, he gasped for air, wiping a hand across his mouth absently. “What the hell?!”

Tony smirked. “Hey, I could be flying off to my death, think I’m going down knowing the last few months of trying to get your attention failed? When in doubt, lay one on ‘em, you know?” he said, winking before plopping his helmet on. “Watch me on the news!” he said, voice coming through a mechanical sounding filter before he lifted off and flew out through the garage in seconds.

Natasha was the first to react, turning to Bruce. “So, you two haven’t been screwing this whole time?” she asked and he stared at her, still pink and clearly confused. 

“A _lot_ has changed while I was away,” Steve said, still looking confused and shell-shocked.

Loki rolled his eyes. “I’ve been around for weeks with a child I gave birth to and you’re still addled by two men kissing?” he asked incredulously.

“Enough,” Pepper interrupted. “Steve, can you go get my things? I’ve got a bag upstairs,” she asked and he nodded, leaving to do so. “Look, you guys take the AMG, it has the most room,” she said, walking over to a rack to grab a set of keys. She tossed the keys to Natasha. “JARVIS is in the car, he’ll guide the way.”

Natasha pressed the button and watched for the lights to flicker on a big, black car. “Nice,” she said and Clint chuckled.

“Shotgun!” he called as he and Natasha simply turned and headed to the car.

Bruce sighed. “Several hours in a car with those two. Great,” he said, glancing at Pepper. “Thanks for this,” he said and she shrugged.

“It’s my job, sadly. All these years with Tony have done nothing for my sanity,” she promised with a smirk. “Be safe, don’t die or else Tony will sulk,” she added and Bruce laughed, and then gestured for Thor and Loki to follow him.

“Come on guys, let’s get the little lady to safety,” he said, looking at the baby who was quietly looking around from her spot in Loki’s arms. “Still can’t believe those bastards want to hurt a baby,” he grumbled as they followed him.

Loki sighed. “I wish just once my child could live in peace,” he said as he climbed in and slid to the center, Bruce and Thor climbing in on either side of him.

“She’ll be safe, don’t worry,” Thor said, smiling at the baby as he shut the door. 

Loki just nodded. “I hope so.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The house Peppers family had in the mountains was a decent sized home styled like a ski-resort home complete with large windows, an open living and kitchen area with a loft bedroom, and two bedrooms. It was odd to be in a family-looking home after so long staying with Stark. It was up on the side of a mountain far from the town in the valley below, up winding mountain roads far enough from any traffic that any approach would be noticed in enough time for them to escape. 

Natasha and Clint did a quick sweep of the property before coming back inside while Bruce and Thor unloaded their packs and Loki looked around inside. “Perimeter’s clean,” Barton said as he and Natasha came in from the deck overlooking the valley. “There’s also a pool and hot tub,” he noted, earning a chuckle from Natasha.

“You say that like you know how to swim,” she teased, walking over to where Loki was standing, looking in the stocked kitchen. “Oh yeah, Pepper said the family had the kitchen stocked yesterday since they were going to come up for the weekend but she convinced them not to.”

Loki nodded. “That’s good,” he said, picking around in the refrigerator. “I wonder if there is anything for Freyja to eat. We didn’t exactly have time to pack anything more than the bottle I had on me and she’s already eaten hours ago.”

Natasha hesitated. “I’ll ask Bruce, I don’t know what babies can eat,” she said, and Clint shrugged.

“This is the closest I’ve probably ever been to a baby,” he said, looking at the child in Loki’s arms as he hopped up onto the counter beside Natasha’s barstool. “Hey Banner!” he called as soon as Bruce came in from the garage with the packs they had managed to snag from Tony’s house in Malibu. “Come find food the baby can eat,” he said and Bruce dropped the bags to be sorted before walking over.

“Let’s see what we can find,” he said, nudging Loki to step aside. He knelt and looked through the refrigerator and hummed. “The strawberries are out, they’re one of the top food allergens on earth. A lot of this can’t be smashed up into a paste, either,” he noted. He stood up and sighed. “Skim milk doesn’t have enough nutrients but it can be a base for something else,” he said, closing the refrigerator to open the freezer portion. “We have frozen peas,” he said, coming back with a pack. He tossed it onto the counter. “If somebody cooks those and smashes them she can probably eat it.” He looked around in the cabinets before opening the pantry. “Sweet potatoes,” he said, coming back with a bag of them. “We can cook these and smash them for her. She may not like the peas or the potatoes, but she can eat them,” he said.

Natasha hummed. “We may have to send somebody down to the town to find something to last her longer than that.”

Bruce nodded. “We’ll have to send somebody for diapers soon anyhow. I think the bag was down to five and we could improvise cloth ones, but we don’t know if she’s allergic to any of the fabrics we’ve got. I’d hate for her to have a skin reaction without any Benadryl around.”

Barton raised an eyebrow. “How did you learn all this stuff? You’re a nuclear physicist, not an MD,” he asked and Bruce shrugged.

“I learned enough about anatomy through biochem in college to know I could work out medicine with a few text books,” he said simply. He chuckled. “You may not know this, but I’m actually smarter than Tony Stark, so you can’t be surprised I learned medicine pretty easily.”

Natasha hummed. “Well, glad you’re on our side,” she said with an approving nod. “Give me a list and I’ll put on something more ‘upper class mom’ and hit up a baby aisle in town,” she said, turning to go grab her bag. 

Loki smiled. “Thank you,” he said, then glanced at the bag of peas on the counter. “Um… how do you cook food?” he asked and Barton rolled his eyes.

Bruce just chuckled. “I’ll do that, you just go pick a room,” he said, nodding at the doors. “There’s two bedrooms and the loft. You’ve got a baby so you guys get one room, we’ll fight over the others,” he joked.

Thor stood up. “I’ll stay with you, Brother,” he promised and Loki nodded, following Thor as they went to claim a bedroom.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
They had been in the mountains for four days without any contact with anybody else besides JARVIS updating them on Pepper and Steve’s progress in New York and the news coverage of Tony wreaking havoc all around the globe. Loki was sitting on the floor crawling around with Freyja, who was getting quite well at crawling around after things, when Natasha threw popcorn at the TV. “Oh shut up, Stark, nobody likes you,” she complained as Stark wrote his name in the sky with a smoke trail as he flew. 

“It seems like Dr. Banner sure likes him well enough,” a voice said from above, earning startled gasped and jumps from everybody besides Natasha. They all looked up, only to gape when they saw Clint lying on one of the beams crossing the vaulted ceiling like a big cat on a branch, watching the TV.

Bruce pulled off his glasses, jaw dropped. “How the HELL did you get up there?!” he asked and Natasha snorted.

“They don’t call him ‘Hawkeye’ for nothing,” she said simply, completely unperturbed by her partner’s position. “He’s a sniper, he likes being up high and having a full view of the area.”

Bruce snorted, grinning. “But how did you get _there_?” he asked. He looked over at the loft that Clint had occupied, but even the banister was a good eight feet from the nearest beam. “Did you really jump that?” he asked and Clint shrugged, glancing back. “That’s a good twelve feet up and that beam is about four inches wide, how haven’t you fallen yet?”

“I grew up in a circus,” he said simply. “This isn’t so bad.” He nodded at Thor. “When he broke into our site in New Mexico, I was in a cherry picker in a thunder storm all windy and rainy to shoot him. This is nice and stable and dry.”

Thor raised an eyebrow. “You were in New Mexico?” he asked and Clint nodded.

“I’m a sniper and you were beating up all the ground goons, of course I was around. You just never saw me.” He nodded at Natasha. “She goes undercover, I shadow invisibly. We have very different styles.”

Loki looked up with a sheepish frown. “Does that mean I’ve tried to kill you twice?” he asked and Clint chuckled.

“No, I wasn’t around for the big fight, I was just doing security at the site where the hammer landed.” He hummed. “Although, I think I did see you. Did you stop to try and grab the hammer?” he asked and Loki nodded with a cringe.

“Yes, I did,” he admitted, sighing as he looked down at Freyja. “Freyja, please do not ever attempt to kill and/or deceive your uncle the way I did, alright?” he asked, reaching out to smooth her hair back, smiling when she looked up with a smile, eyes wide.

“Ma!” she said, reaching for him and Loki froze.

“Did she just-“

“MA!” She dropped onto her hands and crawled towards Loki, who beamed and picked her up.

“Did you just try to call me ‘mum’?!” he asked excitedly.

Thor chuckled. “Well now, young human! You are quite adorable,” he said, reaching out to grab her little hand.

Natasha snickered. “‘Mother’?” she asked and Loki sighed.

“Yes, I am her mother. I may be mortal _now_ but I am a mother,” he said pointedly. He kissed his daughter’s hair. “Mummy’s little girl. Now if only I can keep you safe,” he said, putting her back down so she could go crawling along the floor again.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki smiled when Freyja crawled on top of him as he lay on the floor watching Star flying around on the news. Banner and Natasha had left a while ago to go into town for supplies while Thor had gone outside to look around once more for threats. Loki smiled when Freyja sat on his middle, laughing as she looked down at him. “What are you doing, my dear?” he asked softly, smiling tenderly as he reached out to brush her hair from her eyes. She caught his hand and bit his finger lightly. “My finger is not a chew toy and you are not a puppy,” he teased, pulling his hand free, laughing softly when she giggled and squealed, tugging on his fingers again. “My beautiful little Freyja,” he said softly. He closed his eyes when she laid down, putting her head on his chest. He curled his arms around her and sighed. “You know, my darling, if the world was a fair place you would be a princess.” He chuckled sadly. “I love you with all my heart. You are my princess. Although if the world were fair you would not exist so I cannot complain too much,” he added, kissing her cheek.

“Never really thought of it that way,” a voice said from above and Loki jumped, looking around frantically only to see Barton still lounging in the rafters.

“For the love of Odin, don’t DO that!” Loki cried, panting as he put a hand on his chest. “I’m going to die of fright one of these days,” he groaned, only to sigh when Freyja started crying, clearly startled. “No, shush, it’s alright, my darling. Mother was just frightened,” he said, sitting up with Freyja in his arms. He looked up and rolled his eyes as Barton fell backwards and landed on his feet after a backflip off the beam. “What did you mean?” he asked.

Barton shrugged. “Well, like you said, the things you did. They weren’t good,” he said, then nodded at Freyja. “But she wouldn’t exist if you hadn’t brainwashed me,” he said and Loki smiled apologetically.

“I am sorry,” he added, then shrugged, shifting Freyja to one arm as he stood up from the floor, going past Barton towards the kitchen to get Freyja something to eat. “But I cannot undo my past and I would not unwish how things have turned out,” he admitted with a diffident shrug. “I love my daughter more than anyone can probably understand. She is rightfully what brought me to sense after a long time living in a twisted state of mental collapse.” He kissed her head as he sat her on the counter so that he could pick up the bottle next to her and hand it to her, smiling down at Freyja’s little hands on the bottle. “And while I acknowledge that what I did to you was very bad, she is a gift I would never wish away. I have a daughter who has a _chance_. She and I may very well live a human life because of this but I may actually have a chance to see a child outlive me for once,” he said with a heavy, relieved sigh. “You cannot know how relieved that makes me.”

Barton hopped onto a barstool and shrugged. “In the end, it’s like you said, the past is the past. I’ve done things I regret so I don’t hold a grudge against you anymore.”

Loki smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki was lounging across the big armchair, attempting to read a very dull book- honestly, humans were more wordy than he was- when he heard Thor hum from his seat to the left. “That thing you are doing, what is it?” Loki looked up to follow Thor’s eyes only to see Natasha making hand gestures towards Barton, who was once again sitting on a beam above the room. 

Natasha raised an eyebrow and paused, but Bruce spoke, looking interested suddenly. “Are you signing to him?” he asked, looking between them as he leaned forward in his chair. “Is that some silent communication thing they teach at SHIELD? ASL isn’t exactly very secret,” he said and Natasha chuckled.

“Of course you know ASL,” she said and Bruce shrugged with a sheepish smile.

“I speak a lot of languages, they’re fun to learn,” he said and Natasha huffed.

“I heard, you speak more languages than I do,” she said, sounding put out. 

Barton chuckled and swung down from the beam like it was nothing to fall back and land on his feet below, straightening to go sit beside Natasha. “I’m deaf so I taught her when we became partners,” he explained and Loki looked up with a frown.

“That isn’t genetic, is it?” he asked quickly and Barton shook his head with a small, amused grin.

“Nah, big explosion messed me up pretty bad. Lost most of my hearing in both ears,” he explained. He looked to Banner. “Every six month’s I’m refitted for implants down next to my eardrums. They never last as long as they should, I get beat around too much for them to stay right, but the doctor just pokes them back when they get knocked out of place. And hey, that’s what the updates are for. I just didn’t start getting those until a few years ago and I could always lose my hearing aids so Nat needed to know sign language in case I couldn’t hear her.” He glanced at Loki. “So yeah, not genetic, no worries,” he reassured and Loki hummed.

“Good. Humanity is terrifying enough of a trait for my child to have,” he said and Bruce smiled.

“You’re really terrified about how vulnerable we humans are, aren’t you?” he asked and Loki groaned.

“Do you know how many times I’d have died if I was human before this?” he asked pointedly. “Thor knocked a half-ton statue over on me when I was four, that’s how young I would have died if I were human from birth.”

Thor gave him a sheepish grin. “I also shot you with Sif’s favorite crossbow when you were twelve,” he said and Loki nodded.

“Yes, an arrow right through my chest and out my back!” he said, laughing fondly. “Oh how my other shouted at you,” he sighed.

Bruce gave him a somewhat alarmed look. “Yeah, don’t let your daughter do anything like that,” he said and Thor laughed, patting his brother’s head, much to his annoyance. 

“Fear not, I do not believe Loki has let her out of his sight at all until this week,” he said and Loki shrugged.

“She’s safe in the bedroom taking a nap. I cannot explain how tired I get of lying and watching her sleep all the time,” he admitted, poking absently at the buttons on the television remote, still unsure what they did precisely.

Natasha sat up, looking at Loki curiously. “You know, I wasn’t aware we were mentioning the whole ‘Clint is the father’ thing before you said that,” she realized and Loki flushed, refusing to meet anybody's eyes.

“We had a discussion and he doesn’t want to shoot me anymore,” he said, looking sheepish.

Barton shrugged. “We’ve all done things we regret before. He really was just as brainwashed and controlled as he made me, if Thor’s to be believed.”

Natasha shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I think I probably did more damage than Loki, just not at one time,” she admitted. “Banner sure has,” she said and Bruce shot her a look.

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me,” he said, but sighed. “At least I’m not the only one whose tried to kill himself before anymore,” he said and Loki winced. Bruce groaned. “I’m sorry, Loki, that was terribly uncalled for, I spend too much time with Tony, my decency is draining-“

Loki shrugged, looking at his hands. “No, I guess we all do know that one,” he said with a sigh.

Natasha offered him a comforting smile before providing the least comforting information ever. “Hey, don’t feel too bad, I killed three nuns once, that’s way worse than trying to kill yourself.”

Bruce shot her a look and slowly edged back towards the kitchen without another word.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki was sitting on the floor, amusingly enough, completely enthralled with the children’s TV show they had found for Freyja to watch from her spot sitting on the floor beside Loki. Clint and Natasha both kept snickering when Loki would smile down at Freyja and say, “Did you see the big dog, my dear?! It was red!” in an excited tone usually reserved for the small children watching the show.

Bruce entered with a nervous and somewhat uneasy expression, putting his phone in his pocket. “Hey, sorry to interrupt Freyja’s TV show, but I need to check something,” he said, casting his eyes around for the remote to the television. 

“What’s up?” Natasha asked, tone cautious but body language spelling ‘on alert’.

Bruce cringed slightly as he sat down and started flipping channels. “Tony hasn’t checked in today so I want to see where the latest Iron Man sightings are-“

Clint frowned. “Stark’s checking in with you?” he asked quickly. “Isn’t that dangerous for our hidden location?”

Bruce shook his head. “We’ve only spoken a few times but he gets me to help run programs through JARVIS for him from the garage. Every day I get some check from JARVIS on where Tony is, just in case, and today JARVIS is fully offline, which is even more alarming.” He found a news channel and waited for it to come back from commercial. “Hopefully it’s on this end, not a problem with-“

“Breaking news!” the anchor’s voice announced. “It has been confirmed that billionaire Tony Stark’s Iron Man has been shot down over the Gulf of Mexico.” Everybody froze as the screen showed video footage from a helicopter showing Tony flying around in the distance, buzzing a ship in the water. “The eccentric billionaire, who has been showing off and wreaking havoc for the past several weeks, was flying around a military vessel off the coast of Texas at the start of this hour and, after being warned several times, was shot down when he failed to gain altitude to a more reasonable distance from the ship, as it was a cause for concern.” They all gasped when the footage changed to images of an explosion in midair followed by a red and gold speck (as it was at a distance) falling from the sky into the water. “Search and rescue divers are attempting to find the billionaire, but so far attempts have been fruitless-“

“Oh God,” Bruce breathed weakly. His hand shook as he pulled at his hair, clearly agitated. “At that height, even in his suit…” He trailed off and shook his head. “There’s no way. That distance onto water? It’s impossible to survive that.”

Barton and Natasha exchanged looks and Natasha stood wordlessly, escaping to her bedroom silently. Loki looked at the pale look on Banner’s face and the uneasy look on Barton’s and winced, pressing his lips to Freyja’s head as he turned his eyes back, watching the looped footage of the Iron Man falling from the sky.

Bruce sighed and shook his head. “Jesus, Stark-“

“What about me?”

They all whipped around to see Tony coming in the open balcony door, limping slightly as he carried his helmet and wore dented, busted pieces of his suit, some of them having gone missing. Bruce gasped and jumped up. “Tony!” he cried, running over. He threw his arms around Tony’s neck, hugging him, only to gasp and draw back when Tony whined. “Oh God, sorry!”

Tony winced. “Yeah, lots of bruises,” he said weakly. Bruce looked at the gash on his head and Tony nodded at the garage. “Help me out of this thing and stop the bleeding?” he asked and Bruce just nodded, smiling.

“Of course!” Bruce said, starting to walk off, only to be caught and dragged back into Tony’s arms. “Tony-MMPH!” Tony tugged Bruce into a kiss, plundering his mouth aggressively until Bruce broke free, gasping and panting. “Wha-“

Tony chuckled. “I nearly died, Bruce, I’d say I deserve a little sugar,” he said, winking at him.

Bruce rolled his eyes, pushing Tony back some. “I’d like to remind you that randomly kissing someone is sexual harassment,” he said and Tony smirked.

“Ooh, I’m good at that, ask my lawyer!” He slung his arm around Bruce. “C’mon, Big Guy, bleeding isn’t slowing down over here,” he said and Bruce just chuckled, shaking his head as he let Tony lead him to the garage, limping slightly along the way. 

Barton ducked his head, giggling slightly at their exit. “Wonder how long until those two are getting it on?” 

Loki frowned. “Getting what on?” he asked and Barton snorted, leaning back against the arm of the couch. 

“It means ‘have sex’,” he said, shaking his head. “You and Thor are so funny with your lack of understanding of innuendo.”

Loki grinned. “OH!” He looked at the door and snorted. “Probably later in the day if Stark’s arrival doesn’t mean we have to run,” he answered, snickering. He sighed and laid back along the couch, pulling Freyja down to lay on his chest, playing with her hair as she relaxed. “I miss Asgard,” he sighed, groaning. “Damn Odin,” he huffed, pouting at Freyja. “Mother loves you more than anything, I really do, but my lord I wish I hadn’t ever had any of this mess happen.” He smiled. “Besides you, you’re a good thing to happen,” he promised. “We wouldn’t be stupid humans, at least.”

“What was Asgard like?” Barton asked, crossing his arms behind his head as he watched Loki. “Thor talks about it a lot.”

Loki smiled sadly. “You couldn’t possibly imagine it,” he said with a distant look in his eyes. “My fath-“ He stopped and closed his eyes. “Odin’s golden halls in the palace in Valhalla, the great city of crystals and lights- They gleam like the jewels of earth could only dream of,” he whispered reverently. “The grove of Glasir’s golden and red leaves provided so much joy for me as a child. Thor and I would play there all of the time when we weren’t running through the halls of the palace.” He chuckled bitterly. “Before my stupidity ended in it destroyed, the rainbow bridge to the Bifrost was something that I can only describe as a pier made of solid diamond, but more brilliant and beautiful than you could imagine,” he said, then sighed. “Odin may no longer be my father, but Asgard was and always will be my home.” He looked up at the ceiling. “I was meant to stand at my brother’s side until Ragnarök so that Odin and his sons could die in the glorious battle in the midst of the nature of all of Yggdrasil turning against its inhabitants and destroying itself and those at war along its branches. I was supposed to be there at the death of the universe and witness the darkness enclosing.”

Barton looked somewhat disturbed by Loki’s wistful tone as he spoke of the end of the universe. “So your ideal would have been to witness the _end of time_?”

Loki chuckled. “These are mostly stories, nothing more. Tales told to the Midgardians long ago upon which they built a religion.” Loki waved a hand. “However, you wouldn’t understand the ideal of dying in battle but it’s a matter of glory. I am-“ He chuckled. “Well, I was a great warrior. My people are driven by honor and valor.” He nodded at Barton. “You and your friend, you fight for a price. Amongst my people that would be shameful. We fight so that our death in battle can be a glorious one and all of the children will hear of our bravery.” He waved a hand. “I took a route of cowardice. I proved to Odin that I really was the monster that he was determined to keep me from becoming. Thor was arrogant and stupid, but at least he was willing to run into battle. I deceived and manipulated. There was no honor and my attempt at suicide was my way of restoring my honor so that my family would not be ashamed.” He shrugged with a sad smile. “It didn’t work. The suicide or restoring my honor. I only broke my mother’s heart.”

Clint shrugged. “This is earth. Nobody cares about you once you’re gone so I’ll take the orders and pay,” he said and Loki smiled. “No offence, but you don’t really look much like a ‘warrior’ without your magic. Was that just your thing? Kind of like how Thor is built like… Hulk?” he asked and Loki laughed.

“Valhalla’s greatest warriors are not all large and alarming like my brother,” he explained. “The woman who was originally meant to be Thor’s wife when they came of age- that is until she became a warrior instead- she is not large and boorishly built, yet she is one of our best fighters. The best blade-fighter of our rank is a small, compact man not much larger than Agent Romanov,” he added. “And yes, while my magic was the most of my skills, I was still a fighter. A great warrior. My aim is beyond that of any other in Valhalla.”

Barton nodded. “Good, you may need a good aim before this is all over,” he said, standing up. “I’m gonna go see what happens next. I’ll send Thor out to sit with you,” he called back as he left the room.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce had just finished cleaning and bandaging Tony’s head when JARVIS came to life, voice echoing from the monitor beside them in the garage. “Incoming attack imminent, Mr. Stark-“

JARVIS’s relays must have still been scrambled from Tony’s suit shorting out, because his attack warning was interrupted by a loud crash, the entire house shaking on its foundations, along with the sound of shattering glass and an alarmed cry.

Tony gasped and pushed Bruce away. “Get the others, I’ll get the car,” he said and Bruce nodded, heading for the door, only to open it and find the entire living area- most of the house’s space- was caved in.

“THOR!” Loki’s voice cried from in amongst the rubble and Bruce gasped as he saw Thor himself struggling through the rubble from where he had been in his room towards the sound of Freyja crying and Loki calling his name. “Brother please!”

Bruce froze when he looked up to see what had happened only to see six men dropping in on ropes from a near-silent jet hovering above the house. “GUYS COME ON!” he cried, hopping over the nearest beam in a rush to get to Natasha’s room, seeing the door blocked. “Natasha?!” he called and the door shuddered, opening a few inches.

“Banner?” she called through the crack. “I’m stuck!” Bruce got to the door and helped pull while she pushed, allowing enough of a gap for her slight frame to slide through. She saw Barton crouched in what was left of the loft area, loading his gun with his sights on the men picking their way through the rubble. “Banner, get Stark to get the car-“

“He already is,” Bruce said, ducking some when the first shots rang out from above their heads. He looked up only to look back when Natasha pushed him towards the garage again.

“Bruce, you need to go before you make things worse,” she said firmly and he nodded, already fighting to hold the Hulk back.

Natasha ran up what was left of the stairs and tossed Barton his bow, snatching the gun from his hand just after he fired. “I’m unarmed,” she said and he nodded, immediately running to grab and strap on his quiver, bow in hand while Natasha covered them more.

“Everybody ready to run for it?” he asked, tightening the strap.

Natasha looked down and shook her head, shooting another person who neared where Thor was trying to lift a beam off of Loki without shifting the rubble to crush him. “They’re wearing serious body armor if they’re able to get back up after I shoot them.”

Clint looked down and cursed. “Get to the garage in a minute, I’m gonna go help Thor,” he said, hopping over the edge and landing with a ‘thud’ before scrambling through the rubble towards Thor.

“Brother, just go!” Loki was panting, pale face covered with sweat, dust, and tears. Clint got to Thor’s side and Loki gasped as he saw him. “What are you doing?! RUN you fools!” he cried, wiggling an arm free to reach out to touch Freyja, who was unharmed- it would seem- and sitting beside her father screaming and crying, clearly terrified. “Mother loves you, my Princess, never forget that,” he said, letting out a weak sob of pain and fear.

“Loki,” Clint started, looking at the beam that held him down by his leg, only to see that it was the only thing blocking many more beams from falling on him. “I don’t think-“

“I know, you imbecile!” he spat angrily. He turned his glare on Thor. “Take Freyja and go!” he commanded. Thor continued trying to move beams without hurting Loki and Loki cursed. “JUST GO THOR! DO NOT BE STUPID-“

“I cannot leave you here!” Thor argued, and Barton pulled an arrow, shooting one of the men as he came over a pile of rubble behind Loki.  
Loki turned to him with terrified eyes. “Please, take Freyja and run,” he begged and Clint looked between Thor and Loki before nodding to Loki.

“I’ll keep her safe,” he said, crawling half-between two beams to gather Freyja into his arms despite her kicking and screaming. He looked back and Loki and shook his head. “I’m sorry-“

“JUST GO!” Loki commanded. Barton nodded to him and then turned to run, scrambling over the wreckage with Freyja clutched to his side with one hand and his bow in the other. Barton got to the garage door and looked back, only to have Natasha land right in front of him as she leapt down from the balcony above.

“Thor can hold his own,” she said simply, shoving him through the door so that they could both run and hop in the car that Tony and Bruce had waiting on them. She looked at Stark and nodded, spurring him to put the car into gear and tear out of the garage like a canon from the barrel.

Bruce looked back and his face fell. He looked at Freyja and back at Barton who just shook his head. Bruce cringed, watching the baby crying out ‘Ma! Ma!’ with a heavy heart. “Oh.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When they boarded Tony’s plane, Thor was still missing. They could only assume he wouldn’t leave his brother, even if it meant getting captured. “Okay, so what’s going on?” Tony asked, still limping as he followed Barton towards the back into the small kitchen area. 

Clint put Freyja on the counter, grabbing a towel and wetting it so he could wipe the dust and grime off of her. “Loki was trapped and Thor was fighting off the assassins trying to kill him even if Loki was trying to make him take Freyja and go.” He looked up and shook his head. “Thor refused to run and leave him so he shouted for me to take her and run and I did,” he said, looking back to gently wipe the baby’s face clean. “I don’t know if Thor can hold them off or get Loki out,” he said. “A beam had fallen on Loki and pinned his legs, but to move it, more would fall on him and crush him.”

Tony cringed. “Shit,” he said, looking down at Freyja, who was just quiet and looked scared as she looked up at him and at Barton. “Damn what are we going to do with this kid without her parent?” he asked and Barton shrugged.

“Banner seems to know what to do, at least,” he said, dropping the cloth to look at her. “Well, you’re still pretty dirty but at least you probably won’t rub it into your eyes now,” he said, picking the baby up to look at it at arm’s length. “Should it be this quiet?” he asked and Tony shrugged.

“She screamed and cried a lot already, maybe she’s over that now?” he suggested, then groaned, putting his face in his hands. “You’re right, Bruce knows more about babies than the rest of us combined,” he said, turning to lead the way back into the passenger area.

Bruce looked up and stood quickly. “Is she alright?” he asked and Barton shrugged, looking at the baby on his hip.

“She’s not crying now.” Bruce held out his hands and Barton passed her over. “I cleaned the dirt off her hands and face so she didn’t rub her eyes, but I don’t know what else to do-“

“It’s okay, I’ll give her a bath when we can find her something clean to wear.” He rocked her and looked down at her. “It’s okay,” he said softly, picking up her hands, looking at them critically before gently pressing his fingers all over her head, watching for her reaction. “She doesn’t seem injured but I’d like to really look her over when we get wherever we’re going,” he said, looking up.

Tony nodded. “How do we take care of a baby without its mother?” he asked and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“We fix her a bottle and just look after her.” He looked over at Natasha. “Do we know anything about Thor and Loki?” he asked and Natasha shook her head.

“I doubt SHIELD would kill them. We may be able to get Loki back. Thor is too strong to be kept so if he’s captured, it’s his own doing,” she said. “Nobody can take the hammer from him, he’s the only one who can even pick it up, so he can conceivably beat anybody who tries to restrain him. If he let them catch him, it’s so he can protect his brother.”

Tony chuckled. “Oh yeah, that’s for damn sure.” He looked at Freyja. “What the hell are we going to do with a baby, guys?”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “We look after her until we get Loki back and if we don’t get him back, we’ll find someone to take care of her.” Freyja started whimpering and turned her face into Bruce’s shirt, grabbing at his collar. He shushed her and started rocking her, rubbing her back some. “Oh don’t cry, sweetheart.” He kissed her hair. “We’ll do everything we can to get your mommy back to you, don’t worry,” he said, pushing past Tony to go sit in a seat. 

Tony raised an eyebrow. “How do you know how to do that? I mean, I know you worked with kids who were sick, but come on!”

Bruce chuckled softly. “They’re easy once you work out how they work, babies.” He stroked her hair soothingly. “I’ve just picked it up watching parents with their kids so much. You see a lot of parents who seem not to give a shit, but the ones I’ve dealt with were usually people terrified their child was going to die of some illness. When a parent’s kid is in danger, they basically embody every paternal and maternal instincts ever and that’s what I’ve been around, so I’ve picked up how to do this,” he said, gesturing to how he was rocking her.

Natasha chuckled. “So basically, you want children,” she said and Bruce smiled sadly.

“We all know I can’t,” he said with a shrug. “I’m fine just fixing them when they’re sick at this point in my life.”

Tony snickered. “Well for the time being, you’re on Freyja duty. The rest of us are fucked if we’re supposed to take care of her.”

Bruce chuckled but nodded. “Square deal.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Clint could see Bruce’s eyelids drooping from where he sat. Bruce looked so tired as he rocked Freyja, who didn’t seem sleepy at all. Bruce groaned as he rocked her slowly. “Please, please just sleep!” he begged, letting his head fall back. “I’m so tired, Freyja. Why are you still awake?!”

Clint chuckled and stood up. “Here, I’ll take her, just go get some sleep,” he said, holding out his hands.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “You sure?”

“Yeah, she isn’t fussy or angry, she just isn’t sleepy now,” Clint said with a shrug. 

Bruce sighed gratefully, holding her out to Clint, who took her and balanced her on one hip. “Alright, but if you need me I’ll be asleep upstairs,” he said and Clint nodded.

“Alright, just don’t be naked,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “I know all about you and Stark,” he chastised and Bruce laughed.

“Contrary to extremely popular belief around here, we aren’t actually sleeping together. I’ll be upstairs in _my_ bed, not his,” he said and Clint scoffed.

“Maybe not _yet_ ,” he said, earning a tired laugh as Bruce headed out.

“Boo?” Freyja said, eyes wide as she looked at Bruce’s shirttail disappearing around the door frame.

Clint smiled, sitting down. “Wait, is that you trying to say Bruce?” he asked, earning a look. “Bruce?”

Freyja waved her hand at the door. “Boo,” she said and Clint grinned.

“Hey, that’s pretty good, kid!” He pointed at himself. “Can you say ‘Clint’?” he asked and she just stared. “Okay, maybe combining so many consonants isn’t easy. How about Barton? Can you say Bar-ton?”

Freyja just blinked then giggled. “A-da!” she exclaimed, then put her hand on his arm. “A-da!”

Clint froze, pulse audible in his ears. Her attempt at ‘Barton’ sounded terrifying close to ‘dada’ to him. Reminded that he was actually her father, Clint looked at her face- really looked- and felt his hands shake slightly when he saw exactly how much of his features were in her. Her eyes could have been Loki’s, but it was a darker color that he knew had to be more like his own. Her hair was sandy, not black as well. Also, her skin wasn’t as pasty pale as Loki’s. She was pale, as a baby would be, but it her skin tone was darker naturally. Clint sighed as he reached out and touched her hair. “How about we work on that one for a little while,” he said softly, swallowing hard as he repeated ‘Barton’ for her quite a few times.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce got out of the shower, pulling off his tee-shirt on his way to the bed, only to fall onto it just as the bedroom door opened. “Oh God, why?” he groaned, rolling onto his back. 

“Well, I was coming to see if you wanted to go play with my chemistry set, but if I can take a hint,” Tony’s voice droned and Bruce opened his eyes, propping up on one elbow to look at him. 

“Tony, you could have the lovechild of Albert Einstein and Nicola Tesla doing a samba in your lab and I’m so tired right now I wouldn’t give two shits,” he said, flopping back onto the pillow. “Freyja wouldn’t go to sleep,” he explained.

Tony grinned and crawled onto the bed beside Bruce, propping on his elbows to look down at him. “Ah, even Saint Banner can’t tame the fussy baby,” he teased and Bruce smiled tiredly, eyelids fluttering as he looked up at Tony. 

“I’m not a saint by any means, Tony,” he argued softly, sighing. “Mmmm, I really am too tired, sorry.”

Tony’s eyes softened and he leaned over and pressed a kiss to Bruce’s forehead. “Then get some sleep.”

Bruce cracked open an eye. “What was that?” he asked pointedly and Tony grinned.

“What? I’ve kissed you twice- three times sort of now- and you still seem so confused,” he said, looking over Bruce’s face with a gentle glint in his eyes.

Bruce chuckled. “I have no idea why you’ve kissed me without any warning.”

“But you haven’t called me out on sexual harassment yet,” Tony quipped, smirking. “You liiiike it when I kiss you, Dr. Banner.”

Bruce scrunched up his nose. “Well, you aren’t horribly unattractive,” he admitted, yawning. “You’re pretty smart so that’s nice.”

Tony narrowed his eyes. “‘Pretty’ smart? That’s like saying Van Gogh was ‘kinda talented’-“

“Well, you’re not as smart as me, so yeah,” Bruce grinned tiredly. “Pretty smart.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Okay Tony, I really can’t do this anymore, I have to sleep, sorry,” he said, shifting to pull the covers out from under him so he could climb into the bed.

Tony nodded. “Sure thing,” he said, shifting and sliding in with him.

Bruce shot him a look. “Yes?” he asked and Tony grinned, shifting to lay along his side, laying a hand on Bruce’s chest. “Seriously?” he asked flatly and Tony leaned in to kiss him sweetly.

“Mmm-hmm, super serious.” He hummed interestedly as he slid his fingers through Bruce’s chest hair. “Do you know I had no idea I liked chest hair until right now? This is sexy,” he said, earning a small laugh from Bruce, who caught his hand and curled his fingers around Tony’s.

“Go to sleep, Stark,” he mumbled, turning to kiss Tony tiredly, smiling when he pulled back.

Tony smiled and nodded, wiggling closer to get comfortable. “Sounds good.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Clint didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep with Freyja asleep on his chest until he leapt awake, clutching at Freyja tightly as soon as he heard a crash. He stood quickly, shushing a frightened Freyja, who was waking up from the movement, and pulled out his gun, holding it at his side as he shifted to hold Freyja with one hand across her back. He kissed her head and shushed her. “It’s okay- your father calls you ‘princess’ right? It’s okay, princess,” he whispered, soothing her with a gentle bounce as he kept his ears alert for sounds of whoever made the crash.

He eased towards the doorway to the hall, only to startle back and aim his gun as someone flew past the open doorway. He rushed to it and looked into the hall only to gasp. “Thor?!” he asked, watching as Thor stalked purposefully down the hall the opposite direction.

Thor turned back and Clint was surprised to see a cut on his forehead. His cape was ripped off, leaving his outfit looking half-ragged. His eyes widened when he spotted Clint. “Freyja!” he called out, rushing back towards them. Clint let him take her and pull her to his massive chest, holding her tight. “Dear child, I feared the worst,” he said, looking her over. “Is she alright?” he asked and Clint nodded.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She didn’t get hurt and she’s been mostly alright. She wouldn’t sleep earlier, but that’s about it,” he answered and Thor nodded, smiling down at his niece.

“Ah, a strong, resilient warrior maiden yet, aren’t you Freyja?” he asked with a sad smile. “Just like your father.” He kissed her hair and hugged her close.

Clint bit his lip. “Speaking of her mother- father whatever,” he prompted and Thor’s eyes grew dark with anger.

“Loki was taken to a SHIELD facility I could not break into,” he answered in a low, angry voice. “I attempted many times and was captured only to escape. I know our friends are my only hope of saving my brother. He is only mortal, whatever tortures they attempt on him will harm him much more seriously now that he is no longer immortal.”

Clint nodded. “Well, Bruce did say to wake him if we needed anything,” he said, turning to lead the way. Thor followed him, holding Freyja close out of his fear as he walked. When they got to Bruce’s room, Clint knocked and then opened the door. “Banner?” he called softly, earning a groan from the bed.

“God not already,” Bruce’s voice called out, only to be followed by a hoarse chuckle.

“How many men you expecting in your bedroom tonight, Big Guy?” the unmistakable voice of Stark asked.

Clint groaned. “Ew, Banner I told you I didn’t want to walk in on you two in bed together!”

Thor looked somewhat embarrassed and looked away pointedly. Bruce chuckled and crawled out of the bed, stumbling slightly in his tiredness. “Fuck off, Clint, I didn’t know he was gonna sneak in like a creep. I was nearly asleep and he came and crawled in bed with me. We _did not_ have sex,” he said, glaring over his shoulder. “I’m not falling for his tricks.”

Tony grinned, sitting up against the pillows. “Stay what you want, handsome, you know you want me,” he teased, winking at him.

Clint sighed. “Alright, it isn’t actually Freyja,” he said and Bruce stopped, head barely into his tee-shirt. “Thor’s bad, see?” he said and Tony nodded.

“Yes, we do have eyes, Barton,” he said and Bruce shushed him.

“How’s Loki?” he asked Thor, who just shook his head helplessly.

“SHIELD holds him in a secure facility. I was unable to break in without being captured a few times and forced to leave.” He looked at Freyja. “I was so worried she was hurt,” he said softly.

Bruce just smiled gently. “She’s fine. Now where is this facility?” he asked, looking over at Tony, who had come to join them.

“It is near a lake not far from the city,” Thor answered. “We must be fast for I fear his mortal form will not withstand whatever harsh treatment they will give him while working under the assumption that he is immortal.”

Tony cringed. “Yeah, that’s a bad thing,” he said, shuffling past Thor out the door. “JARVIS, locate this lakeside facility and get the suit ready. I’ve got a meeting with Director Fury I need to force my way into.”

“Sir,” JARVIS’s voice offered. “It is shown on record that Director Fury is no longer involved in the Loki assignment. After his failed raid, he was removed from the situation altogether. It appears he stood up for two of his agents going rogue.”

Barton snorted. “Dumb bastard.”

“This could be our way in,” Bruce said pointedly. He held his hands out for Freyja. “You three go. Steve can stay and help me just in case. I’m no use in this case. Loki’s way too fragile to even think about involving my other side,” he said, smiling at Freyja when she settled against his chest. “Hey, you want a bottle?” he asked.

Thor gave her a gentle smile. “Look after my niece. Her mother will want her well whenever he returns.”

Bruce nodded. “Of course I will,” he said, shuffling Freyja to his hip as he eased out of the room to go fix her a bottle.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki let out a broken sob as he was thrown back into his cell. He lay crumpled on the floor, gasping for breath between his tears and the pain in his chest. “Please, please stop,” he begged.

“Come on, freak,” one of the guards said, kicking him again. “You can’t die. We can do this all night if we want!”

“You don’t understand!” Loki gasped out. “Please don’t kill me! I have a child-“

“Oh yeah, that freak junior,” the other guard said, smirking darkly. “Once Fury gives up the location of the others in the negotiations we’ll pick up the second alien, too-“

Loki’s eyes widened. “NO!” He scrambled to his knees, failing to get further. “She’s a baby!” he pleaded. “Do not hurt her-“

“It’s an alien, we hunt aliens,” one said simply, smirking darkly as he and his partner turned to leave the cell. “Just another target if you ask me.”

Loki let out a broken whimper and slid to the floor, clutching at his middle. “She’s safe, she’s safe, they have her and she’s safe,” he whispered to himself over and over as his consciousness left him.

When he woke again it was to the terrifying sound of his cell door scraping open again. “Please no,” he whispered, whining when he was grabbed under his arms and hauled up, shoved forward, and made to walk the now-familiar route to the ‘interrogation chamber’, as he heard them speak of the room in which he received his daily tortures.

He was led to the usual chair and tied into it, arms behind his back and feet bound to the floor. He opened his eyes and panted from the exertion of being transported. He looked into the eyes of the man approaching him and whimpered. “Good morning, Freak,” the cheerful voice sounded. “Planning to talk today?”

Loki sighed as he watched the man- who only introduced himself as ‘your friend’- pulled on a pair of ever-present leather gloves. “I have told you everything I possibly can,” Loki said weakly. 

“You mean the lies-“

“I did not lie!” Loki pleaded. “I am human! My mother sent me here to earth! I have a daughter who needs me and I cannot continue living this way!”

“Lies!” the man cried as he struck Loki across the face with enough force to knock him sideways and loose a cry of pain from his lips. “You will tell us how you transported yourself-“

“My _mother_ used her power- AHH!” Loki cried out as another fist connected with his skull. “Please no, my mother really did- MMMPH!” Loki’s mouth was covered and his head pulled back. He screamed in pain as something was stabbed into his leg, spreading pain throughout his entire body. His body felt like it was on fire and he wrenched his head way, eyes widening when he saw the syringe being pulled from his thigh. “What is that?! What- AHH!” he screamed as his body convulsed, the fire spreading throughout his limbs and into his torso. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!” he screamed from the top of his lungs, body wracked with violent spasms.

The man smirked. “So, how about you tell me what I want to know now.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Fury sighed. “Stark, I’m blacklisted from that operation-“

“Then let me into the files and I’ll get what I need myself,” Stark argued, stalking over to him, boots clunking on the metal floor. “Loki will _die_ and I know you don’t give a damn about that- I didn’t really either for a while there- but he has a child!” he hissed.

Thor nodded. “My brother is human now. He means no harm. He is of sound mind but very weak body. He will not withstand the cruelties of torture and my niece needs her mother! She has no family apart from him!”

Barton nodded. “I know what it’s like to grow up an orphan, let’s just say it isn’t fun.”

Fury eyed him. “Aren’t you the child’s father?” he asked pointedly and Barton barely bristled.

“Only in biology. I’m no dad, sir. I barely have a conscience, Loki is a _parent_ with parental instincts and stuff. The kid needs a parent,” he said pointedly.

Fury eyed the three men and Natasha before turning to the silent woman. “What do you think, Agent Romanov?”

Natasha ducked her head before looking up. “Well, from my observations Loki isn’t a hostile and seems to genuinely regret his actions on earth last time. Besides, being stripped of his magic and immortality seems like a suitable punishment for him without taking his life and orphaning a kid to.” She shrugged. “Like Barton said, growing up an orphan isn’t pleasant. Why do you think we both ended up spies who lack human emotions?”

Fury chuckled. “Alright, the most I can do is leave this room and come back in five minutes. You have _five minutes_ ,” he said to Stark before turning and leaving.

Tony smirked. “Only need two,” he said, rushing over to hack into the computer database. “JARVIS, can you get in there and find Loki?”

“Already on it, sir.”

Thor sighed. “Thank you. All of you. I could not get my brother without your help,” he said and Barton clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank us later when Loki’s back, he isn’t out of the woods yet,” he said and Natasha nodded.

“No telling what all they’ve done to him already,” she offered grimly.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki could barely breathe for all the pain. “I- I won’t- Ah!” he whined as he was kicked again, already paralyzed by the pain of whatever they had been giving him for a while now. He had no idea how long. Hours, days, it could be years for all he knew, it was all nothing but pain.

“Tell us where the kid is!” the man repeated for what had to be the thousandth time. Loki just let out a weak sob, eyes blurry from tears as he looked up and shook his head, whimpering when it brought on another kick to his side. “Just tell us!”

“She’s my baby,” Loki mumbled through tears and pain. “She’s my baby,” he repeated, crying out as he felt another rib crack under the abuser’s boot. 

“TELL US-“

“NO SHE’S MY BABY!” Loki cried shrilly. He shook his head, the only movement he was really able to make, and cried hard enough that his ribs were like fire. “She’s my baby,” he whispered over and over to himself as he begged for the torture to stop.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
None of them had ever seen Thor as angry as he was when Tony got them into the facility where Loki was being held. Tony, Natasha, and Clint mostly just followed in the wake of Thor’s destruction as he leveled every guard who came rushing towards them with mighty blows from Mjolnir. Natasha and Clint shot the rest of those who managed to get past while Tony shouted directions, occasionally blasting down doors that were in their way.

It wasn’t until they got to the bottom level of the facility that the damp, darkened hallways gave way to an almost clinical, puke-green-painted set of cells along a corridor. They heard laughter and cries of pain from the end, which spurred Thor on in search of rescuing his brother. He had kicked down the door before the others could catch up, as they were too busy holding off those coming at them from the rear. They heard shouts and gunshots and screams, but nobody saw whatever Thor did. When they got there, however, the three men in uniform were lying in a bloodied heap in the floor while Thor knelt beside a huddled shape.

“Holy shit!” Tony said, voice mechanically filtered by his suit. 

Loki was messed up. He was lying in a puddle of his own blood, covered in black and blue with fading areas where the bruising had turned yellow, suggesting he’d been beaten quite a lot. He had full on cuts in his wrists from pulling at his metal handcuffs which, together with the gash across his forehead, had produced the blood he was lying in. He was breathing ragged, pained breaths as his body shook violently.

“What’s it look like?” Natasha asked from the doorway, where she sat, picking off anyone who came around the corner with a weapon.

“Loki?” Thor asked, gently touching his brother’s shoulder, only to earn a broken cry.

“NO! She’s my baby, she’s my baby, she’s my baby!” Loki choked out, gasping for air. “I won’t, she’s my baby-“

“Loki!” Thor said, only to have his brother continue on.

“She’s my baby!”

Thor shook his head. “Loki, it is me! I am your brother!”

Loki peeked open his eyes- they were nearly swollen shut- and gasped. “Th-Thor?” he asked, and Thor nodded.

“We’ve come for you, Loki. You’re safe now, Brother,” he said, looking up at Stark. “I’ll need a path out of here.”

“You’ve got it, buddy.” Tony turned and pointed at Clint. “Robin Hood, Murder Barbie, you two cover Thor’s back,” he said, earning a glare from Natasha as she let him past.

“I wouldn’t fall asleep tonight, if I were you,” she muttered and Tony chuckled.

“If all goes to plan, the last thing Bruce and I will be doing is sleeping, sweet cheeks,” he said, earning a groan of disgust.

“Gross,” she said, then nodded at Thor, who shuffled past, holding Loki like an overgrown child in his arms, using his chest to shield him as best from those who were firing on them still.

“Just get us out, Loki needs a doctor,” Thor said, voice laced with worry.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Loki was unconscious by the time they got back to Stark Tower, Bruce only had to take one look at Loki before urging them to get Loki to a hospital instantly. “He’ll die without it-“

“He’s been in SHIELD care, a hospital is the least hidden place ever,” Barton argued and Bruce glared.

“Then do your job as a spy and keep him safe. As it is, he’ll _die_ ,” he said fiercely.

Tony looked up. “JARVIS, contact Fury, see if he’ll help us again by distracting while I fake the hospital’s data to hide Loki,” he instructed, then nodded at Thor, who was still holding Loki. “Come on, we can’t fly if we’re going incognito. We’ll take my car,” he said, nodding at Bruce. “Come with us, keep him stable while we’re driving,” he said and Bruce hesitated. 

“What about Freyja?” he asked and Loki gasped, eyes fluttering open as he woke again.

“My baby, she’s my baby,” he whimpered and Barton frowned.

“That’s all he said the whole time he was awake,” He said and Tony cringed.

“He has no idea where he is. They must have wanted her and tortured him for it.” He shook his head. “He wouldn’t give her up.”

Thor shushed him. “All is well, brother, we’ll get you help soon.”

Bruce shook his head. “Natasha, Barton, you two stay here with Freyja. She’s asleep but if she wakes up, just deal with it,” he said. He put the bottle he had been holding when they arrived in Barton’s hand. “You watched her the other night, you feed her, not Natasha,” he said, rushing to pick up the shoes near the couch. “Come on, we have to get to the hospital.”

Tony and Thor nodded and began to follow, leaving the assassins alone with nothing but a bottle and a situation neither were comfortable in.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
In the end it took thirty two stitches, Loki had six broken ribs, two broken fingers, a fractured collar bone, deep tissue bruising, and worst of all, a near-fatal poisoning all from the hands of SHIELD. They had only been able to save him from the poison when the antidote mysteriously appeared by rather unremarkable courier. His stay in the hospital was lengthy, though “Jack Smith” always had a pretty redhead visitor who stayed nights to keep him company.

It was five days before he woke up. Thor was sitting by his brother’s bed when he suddenly heard a small sound and looked up to see Loki peeking out between blackened, swollen eyes. “Thor?”

Thor smiled brightly. “Brother! You are awake!” He stood and clasped his unbroken hand in a warrior’s clasp. “I feared you would not awaken this time.”

Loki looked around. “Where is Freyja? Where is my child?”

“She is well,” Thor said, smiling. “The humans are caring for her well.”

Loki gave a weak sigh. “She is human herself.”

Thor nodded. “You will recover,” he said and Loki smiled a tiny smile.

“They- they wanted her. They wanted my baby,” he whispered, lip trembling slightly. “They hurt me because they wanted my little girl.”

Thor nodded, smiling a grim smile. “I know. They paid for it dearly, though.”

Loki whimpered. “I want my baby.”

“You’ll see here soon.” They both looked up to see Barton and Natasha in the doorway. “We’re here for the night shift,” Natasha said with a shrug. 

Loki frowned. “I do not understand.”

Thor chuckled. “I have been going back to the tower every night to care for Freyja while they have watched over you here. Doctor Banner cannot be expected to look after her all of the time.”

Loki smiled softly. “So we are safe?” he asked, and Thor nodded.

“You and Freyja are safe.”

Loki sighed and nodded, turning big blue eyes up to the ceiling as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. “We are safe.”


End file.
